At the end of October, students in certain English and math classes found themselves changing classrooms to accommodate a shuffling of teachers between courses.

Five teachers were affected during a process where administration changed the grade and/or subject they taught. This action caused students to leave their beloved teachers as the teachers shifted into their new courses.

“The teacher swap made a lot of students upset and were given very vague reasons behind it,” said Lance Hawkins, who teaches math and was affected by the teacher shuffle. “Even I still don’t fully understand why.”

Along with Hawkins, Britney McLain’s English classes changed from on-level juniors to Pre-AP sophomores.

“As far as other factors that influenced the swap, I’m not necessarily sure what conversations happened between the admin. I was told that it would help play to each teacher’s strengths in order to improve test scores,” McLain said.

Many students were not pleased with this event. They were given short notice and had no choice in the matter.

“I liked my other teacher better,” said Ailyn Garcia (10), whose math classes were changed. “I thought I was learning better in [Hawkins’] class because of the way he taught things, but I guess not so they moved us, and now I have a 60% in math when I used to have like, a B.”

Other students appreciate that this shuffle occurred and are now thriving in the new classroom.

“I swapped from Ms. Whitson to Ms. McLain, and I really liked the swap,” said Maria Hermios (10). “Because of her teaching styles, I feel like I work and learn better.”

Every student has different learning styles. Therefore, every person’s experience with this swap and personal results were, of course, varied.

This has not only impacted students, but it has also disrupted teachers. McLain was working alongside Gavin Nelson to revamp the junior curriculum so that it would work with the new Arkansas standards and within the school’s learning cycles. This meant that they occasionally had to create new units from scratch, but they were mostly revising what was already there to make improvements.

“It’s still sad to think that we could have finished basically fixing the junior curriculum, and we didn’t get a chance to,” McLain said. “But it’s okay; my juniors are in good hands.”

It seems as if this change might not have been the best way to improve student success, because of the toll it had on the affected students and teachers. It’s difficult to make a change mid-semester, and many students have strong bonds that they have to start afresh with their new teacher.

However, like McLain said, all students have been left with teachers who care about their well-being and academic success.