School welcomes new teachers and staff

MVN: How long have you been teaching?  Math teacher Michele Anderson: I taught for 25 years over in Missouri. MVN: Do you have any goals for this school year? MA: Well, I think the same goal for me every year is to just make math pertinent to kids and to have them understand the importance of math without having it be frightening. MVN: So what college Did you attend? And what was your ...

Mill Valley News: What is your background teaching, before you came to Mill Valley and how long have you been teaching or working in that field? School psychologist  Michael Austin: This is probably my 11th year as a school psychologist. My undergraduate degree is from the University of Kansas in psychology in what used to be called human development family life, my graduate degree, the first ...

Mill Valley News: Describe something on your desk or in your office that has special meaning to you. Brent Bechard: The pictures of my wife and my son Bruin [mean a lot to me] for obvious reasons. Bruin just turned one, [he’s] our first kid, and, not that kids aren't special to everybody but he's kind of special to us because we had to go through some IVF to be able to have a kid. That makes Bru...

Mill Valley News: What is your background? Industrial Technology Teacher Brian Hagstrom: [I taught for three years] at Lexington Trails, teaching engineering, so I was doing the middle school Engineering Technology sections. My degree is secondary education math. So my first year was at DHS teaching math so that's my high school experience, and then my engineering experience has been the middle sc...

Mill Valley News: Describe something on your desk or in your office that has special meaning to you? Assistant principal Deb Jaeger: So this is actually a football quote by Jimmie Johnson. [It says], ‘the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is a little extra.’ So it's showing up five minutes early for a meeting or staying until the job's done, or studying that little bit extra, do...

Mill Valley News: How long have you been working in education?  Athletic secretary Linda Logan: This is my second year, I was a para here last year. And then the athletic director, secretary, job came open. And that's where I'm at now.  MVN: Why did you want to work at the school? LL: I retired from a career of over 31 years [in] January of 2020, and I wanted to be in a school just to b...

Mill Valley News: Could you describe something on your desk or in your office that is something of meaning? French teacher Michelle McRay: I think that what has the most meaning to me is my little wall. Nobody can really read it because [it has] a bunch of complicated grammar, but it's all really positive. I have all these posters where it says in order to understand everything and to ask questio...

Mill Valley News: Could you describe something on your desk or in your classroom that has a special meaning to you? Social studies teacher Jason Pendleton: If you look around [my classroom] I have quite a collection of bobbleheads, and they range from cultural, social, like superheroes and whatnot, to historical figures, so bobbleheads are a fun way of holding on to historical characteristics. ...

Mill Valley News: What is something on your desk or in your classroom that has a special meaning to you? Head girls basketball coach Adam Runyan: I have this picture of me and my two boys, they’re both little guys. It says ‘Best Dad Ever’ which I don’t know if I’m the best dad ever, but my sons are really important to me, so having that picture on my desk and being able to see them every ...

Mill Valley News: What is your background?  Residential carpentry teacher Cory Sears: Before I came here, I did painting and construction, and I was a substitute teacher. I also coach speech, debate, and drama. I actually got my undergrad in speech communication, which is different from the masters. I'm in for a CTE career in technical education. So originally, my background was in public spea...

Mill Valley News: Why did you choose to work at the school? Assistant band director Jennifer Whyte: It does bring me about an hour closer to my family, which is nice. Also, I’ve known [band director] Deb Steiner for a while and I respect everything that she’s done and I love the chance to get to work with her and work with a great band program.  MVN: Why did you get into education? JW:...

Mill Valley News: What is your background? Secretary Leslie Wilson: Before [the school], I was in sales. I'm a mom of four children, I have a daughter that goes here, and I really wanted to be on the same schedule as the kids. So that's why I switched over to the building secretary here at Mill Valley High School. MVN: What do you do in your free time? LW: I like to golf. I'm on a co-ed v...

Mill Valley News: What college did you attend?  Secretary Ashley Witherspoon: I went to JUCO for two years. MVN: What did you do before you came to the school?  AW: So before I was here I worked at St Luke's in the GI unit. It was definitely crazy, and it was during COVID, which was even more crazy. Before that, I worked part-time when my son was in school, but I stayed home for most of h...