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Part I: Teachers staying here experience bittersweet emotions for those leaving

The heartache over losing many young staff members to other opportunities has caused the feelings of those staying to waver between distraught and happiness for the future of the school, themselves and their departing co-workers.

For many of the remaining staff members, the reason why they reside here is due to the amount of time they have spent at the school, but also because they have devoted their careers into their leadership positions and programs here.

“I feel I have something to contribute to this community, I have an affinity for the students I teach, I have leadership responsibilities and all of those opportunities are what keep me here,” social studies teacher Katrina Levin said.

However, the people who are staying also recognize why some may desire to leave the school, whether it be for location purposes or for a change in lifestyle.

“As teachers, people are always looking around [for better jobs], but there’s a lot of stuff to go through to make that happen. If they haven’t put down roots here, it might be easier for them to go somewhere else, especially if they live in Beaverton and decide to take a job out there,” science teacher Cyrus Harshfield said.

Michael Lindblad, social studies teacher and baseball coach, relates losing the staff to his experience in baseball, highlighting the strength that is leaving with them.

“If you lose three of your best nine hitters on your baseball team, you’re going to take a hit. That’s just like how we’re losing almost 50 percent of our best teachers in the school, showing all of Oregon what kind of school [this is],” Lindblad said.

When the school loses these so called “best hitters” in education, it loses pieces of a foundation that cannot ever be truly rebuilt, according to English teacher Ellie Hakala.

“Every time a teacher leaves, we lose the work they put into building relationships with students, designing curriculum, their skill set that we can no longer benefit from and we lose institutional knowledge. We lose friends and mentors and colleagues that we are used to spending time with,” Hakala said.

Although, most of the staff remaining is encouraging of the ones leaving to go on and fulfil their dreams. According to Levin and Harshfield, those leaving are extremely dedicated, and strong leaders with strong voices and passionate in a way that is inspiring. On the other hand, for those with the curiosity to uncover the secrets that lie beneath educational government, like Lindblad, the matter of teachers leaving on their own terms is very telling of the school district.

“I mean, on Oregon Live, [the school] was ranked the worst building in the state. That has to say something,” Lindblad said.

Others recommend that society has changed for the better, allowing creative minds to find the best opportunities.

“Our past economy has made us forget that people have had many new career motivations for art and education,” Hakala said.

Watching those that are close to the school leave may be difficult to do when those watching are still standing in the midst of the tornado of a mess from broken ceilings to oversized classrooms, but the teachers standing there are proud of the ones accomplishing the dreams that they had put on the sidelines for so long.

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  • K

    Kristen WarrenJul 6, 2014 at 8:42 pm

    Olivia, nicely done. I appreciate your dedication to the Argus and GHS!

    Reply
  • S

    SageJul 1, 2014 at 12:35 pm

    I am impressed with your effort.

    Reply