Students around the school may be noticing new faces in the classroom fourth quarter. For various reasons, there are currently six long-term substitutes teaching in the building.

This year, because of the amount of teachers leaving the building before the end of the school year, the number of long term subs has increased. These teachers include social studies teacher Mike Roush​, subbed for by Kirsten Crandall; F​amily and Consumer Science teacher Rebecca Caves, subbed for by Loriann Neighbors and science teacher Alyssa Meyer subbed for by Diane Barger. 

Crandall said that Mill Valley is a great place to teach and that everybody has been very helpful.

“Everybody has been so welcoming: all of the staff, the administration and I’m really surprised on how well the students have responded to it too,” Crandall said. “[The students] seem very open to the idea [of a long-term sub] and OK with someone new just stepping in and taking over.”

Neighbors said that the transition has been very easy because she found the students and staff to be nice.

“I love it. I find the kids to be very friendly,” Neighbors said. “I’ve noticed that when I substituted here, which is why I applied for the position. I think it’s a great group of students and a great group of teachers.”

Barger said the hardest part about coming in the middle of the school year was not know what the students are learning in class.

“Not knowing the students’ names and not knowing the material they covered [has been difficult],” Barger said. “[It is difficult] not knowing what they knew so I would know what to teach them.”

The hardest part about being a long-term sub for Crandall is changing things for the students while she also wants to be comfortable teaching.

“You don’t want to come in and totally put things upside-down,” Crandall said. “Everyone has their teaching style so I think it’s challenging to teach the way that I feel comfortable and invest in and also still maintain that routine that the students are used to.”