The Davis school district welcomed some 25 new teachers — representing the equivalent of about 18 full-time positions — at a working breakfast Friday.

Assistant Superintendent Matt Best told The Enterprise that “We will have about 50 fewer full-time teaching positions this fall than we did last fall as a result of the spring layoff reduction in staffing. Our new hires are being employed to replace those individual employees we have subsequently lost to  attrition” — teachers who decided to move out of town, retire, take a leave of absence or change careers.

“These new hires do not represent new positions,” Best added. “You will notice the conspicuous absence of new hires in the elementary schools. This is a byproduct of having so many our laid-off teachers on the district’s rehire list (this summer). There are fewer new faces in the district this year, and, unfortunately, many fewer positions.”

But for the relatively small group of new hires being welcomed at Friday’s event, it was a happy occasion. Susan Lovenburg, the Davis school board president, spoke of “high hopes and high expectations” for the coming academic year, but also acknowledged “we are facing challenges and budget reductions” from the state, which translates into “more students in the classroom” as compared to last year.

“It’s not what we hoped for, but that’s were we are,” Lovenburg said. “And we’re going to keep student learning first and foremost.”

Superintendent Winfred Roberson reminded the new hires that “you went through a rigorous hiring process; there were hundreds of applicants.” And Roberson stressed, “We depend on your success in the classroom … our parents are entrusting you with their most valuable asset — their children.”

The superintendent urged the new hires to “strive for that ‘aha moment’ ” when students “connect and learn.”

Among those attending the breakfast was new Davis High band teacher Thomas Slabaugh, who went on a 72-mile, 10-day backpacking trip this summer with Boy Scout Troop 66, through the Sangre de Christo Mountains in New Mexico, “where the Rockies meet the Plains,” as Slabaugh put it.

When he meets his new students on the first day of school Wednesday, Slabaugh said he plans to begin “by having the students interview me. Before I inculcate them with the band’s rules and procedures and grading policy, I thought it would be good to get acquainted with them a little bit.”

Dave Guerrero, joining the special ed teaching staff at Davis High, is returning to that campus after 10 years at Lee Middle School in Woodland. Guerrero’s summer included a two-week trip in the Middle East, including “four days in Israel, five days in Jordan, plus time in Egypt, visiting the Southern Sinai and Cairo — lots of historical sites.”

Guerrero said he’s happy to be teaching at Davis High again “because my children go to school in Davis.”

Katie Williams is a new special ed teacher at César Chávez Elementary.

“This will be my first time working with younger students; I’ve previously taught at the junior high and high school level,” Williams said. She recently moved here from Hollister in San Benito County; her husband Joe is studying food science at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Food and Wine Science at UC Davis.

Sue Smart will be a special ed teacher at Korematsu Elementary. Earlier in her career, Smart worked in pathology at the UCD Medical Center in Sacramento. She took time off to raise a child, and came back into the workforce as a teacher.

“I’ve gotten a big welcome at Korematsu from Principal Mary Ponce and the staff,” Smart said.

Catherine Devine will be teaching biology at Davis High on a part-time basis. Devine worked in the mammoth Los Angeles Unified School District — which has more than 600,000 students — for 16 years, then decided to “move north for quality-of-life reasons.” She taught in Gilroy for a time, and will now be teaching here.

“On the first day, I think I’ll probably give my biology students a little something that’s alive that they can take home … something that is a mystery, a little puzzle for them to think about,” Devine said.

Anne Holte will be teaching science at Montgomery Elementary, working with students in grades 4-6. Holte is a longtime Davis resident, with children at Chávez Elementary and Emerson Junior High, who had been teaching science in Woodland for the past 16 years.

“I will now get to ride a bike to work!” she said enthusiastically. “And I also get to be part of the new ISTAR science and technology teaching program at Montgomery,” a new grant-supported program that includes the Davis and Dixon school districts and the UCD School of Education, Holte added.

This year’s new teachers in the Davis school district (some part-time, some full-time) are: David Achimore, English, Davis High; Brett Adams, special ed, Harper Junior High; Sarah Barnes, science, Da Vinci Junior High; Melissa Barsam, speech therapist, special education program; Constance Best, Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment director; Laura Blay, science, Da Vinci Junior High; Amy Boyd, behaviorial intervention specialist; Laura Burke, teacher/director, Davis Parent Nursery School; Shelley Chappell, librarian, North Davis and Korematsu elementaries; Gretcher Conners, social science, Harper; Ashleigh Cowan, English, Da Vinci Junior High; Catherine Devine, biology, Davis High; Kimberly Gallagher, biology, Davis School for Independent Study; Anna Grace, science prep, Birch Lane Elementary; David Guerrero, special ed, Davis High; Robyn Hernandez, English, Davis High; Anne Holte, science, Montgomery Elementary; Janel Jahsi, English, Davis High; Carianna Liefland, math, Harper Junior High; Ellie Michel, agriculture, Davis High; Teacher, Davis High School; Teresa Perkins, physical education, Harper Junior High; Elizabeth Shoemaker, science, Emerson Junior High; Thomas Slabaugh, band director/music, Emerson Junior High and Davis High; Susan Smart, special ed, Korematsu; Pamela Snipes, special ed, Holmes Junior High; Laura Wheeler, special ed teacher, Harper Junior High; Katrina Williams, resource specialist program, Chávez Elementary; and Christine Brewin, science prep, Korematsu.

— Reach Jeff Hudson at [email protected] or (530) 747-8055.

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Dave Guerrero, a newly hired special education teacher at Davis High School, right, laughs with Laura Burke, left, teacher/director of the Davis Parent Nursery School, and Anne Holte, a science teacher at Montgomery Elementary School at Friday’s welcome breakfast at the Davis school district offices. Wayne Tilcock/Enterprise photo

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Liz Shoemaker, a science teacher at Emerson Junior High, and Brett Adams, who will work with special education students at Harper Junior High, center, chat with Clark Bryant, associate superintendent of instructional services and elementary education. Wayne Tilcock/Enterprise photo

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Newly hired behavior intervention specialist Amy Boyd chats with Davis Board of Education member Sheila Allen, right, and Pam Mari, executive director of student services and secondary programs for the Davis schools, center, at Friday’s welcome event. Wayne Tilcock/Enterprise photo

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Superintendent Winfred Roberson addresses the new hires at Friday’s welcome breakfast. Wayne Tilcock/Enterprise photo

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