At the end of the first semester, administrators had to fill two core teaching positions for the second semester. The absence of English teacher Scott Duerksen was filled with long-term sub Amy Sayler, and Gary Bellknap along with Sandra Rigby are subs for math teacher AJ Bodyk.
Sayler is pushing forward with her students and not worrying about the first semester.
“I can not go backwards, I don’t need to but [moving forward] is what I’m going to do,” Sayler said. “This is what I’m going to do and get the best out of [the students] as I can.”
Belknap is happy with coming in halfway through the year to start teaching.
“It was nice coming off winter break; it was kind of a fresh start,” Belknap said.
Sayler treats teaching halfway through the year as if it was the start of the year.
“For me, it’s like I’m starting a new year, and that’s all I think about,” Sayler said. “I’m just starting here, and that’s what I got to do. It would be just like coming in during August for me.”
Belknap finds it difficult to fit his new substitute job into his daily schedule.
“Between teaching here and teaching at Wichita State and also being a grad student taking nine credit hours of graduate school and then coaching middle school basketball, it’s a lot of work and it takes a lot of a lot of time,” Belknap said.
Despite all the struggles the semester might bring her, Sayler still loves her teaching job. She came back to work at the high school again because she missed her time teaching English there.
“I always love all the kids here, and that’s part of the reason why I came back because I was happy at home, but I do miss the kids and some of the teachers,” Sayler said. “It is fun to do English again.”
