Staffing for the 2015-16 School Year

As we move to the end of a fantastic school year, we are also very busy preparing for the 2015-16 school year.    I want to share with you the staffing for next school year:

Transitional Kindergarten- Ms. Laura Bence

Kindergarten- Mrs. Linda Mooers, Mrs. Coleen Crew, and Ms. Autumn Hancock

1st Grade- Mrs. Christine Goldner, Ms. Shauna Fulcher, and Ms. Cassondra Becking

2nd Grade- Ms. Kim Bain, Mrs. Kim Farwell, and Mrs. Melanie de Monet

3rd Grade- Mrs. Kathy Panec, Mrs. Andrea Jones, and Mrs. Malia Lammay/Mrs. Michelle Hayden

4th Grade- Miss Judi Hultberg, Mrs. Kelly McLean (on maternity leave to start the year- Mrs. Karey Gutierrez will fill in for Mrs. McLean until November), and Miss Jayme Mitchell

5th Grade- Mrs. Jen Van Dyken, Mrs. Christina Buck, and Mrs. Elise Kuypers (formerly Ms. Heiting who is getting married this summer)

6th Grade- Ms. Beth Rubinstein, Ms. Alison Mort, and Ms. Julie Presant

STEM- Ms. Joanie Craddock

Primary SDC- Mrs. Ashley Morris

Upper Grade SDC- Mrs. Debarati Sen

Speech and Language Therapist- Mrs. Carol Rossi

School Psychologist- Ms. Kathy Hartley

As the list above indicates, we have a few changes in staffing for next year.  We are losing two outstanding educators.  Ms. Natalie Cannon has accepted a 6th Grade position over at Santa Rita, the school where she started her career.  Mrs. Jessica Millman has decided to pursue opportunities outside of LASD.  We thank them both for their fine work with our students and wish them the best.

Joining the Springer staff for the 2015-16 school year is Cassondra Becking.  Ms. Becking has been teaching the last two years at Ida Jew Academies in San Jose.  She is a graduate of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and has a strong background in literacy, technology, and science.   Her current administrator writes in her letter of recommendation that, “she has demonstrated to be one of the most outstanding educators I have encountered in my career”.  I’m very pleased that she will be joining our staff as a 1st Grade teacher.

New to Springer, but not new to LASD, is Miss Jayme Mitchell.  Miss Mitchell will be teaching 4th Grade, the same grade level she has been teaching at Loyola for the last 3 years.  She is also a LASD product, having attended Santa Rita! I had the pleasure of observing Miss Mitchell as part of her evaluation process the last two years.  I was impressed with her energy, instructional practices that lead to high student engagement, and dedication.   Loyola is losing 4th Grade sections next year so their loss is certainly Springer’s great gain.  She has expressed great excitement in coming over to Springer- and we are very happy to add her to our staff.

Certainly not new to the Springer community is Mrs. Karey Guiterrez who will be filling in for Mrs. McLean who will start the year on maternity leave.  Mrs. Guiterrez has done several long term sub assignments for Springer in the past- including one in 4th Grade.  She and Mrs. McLean have already been working together to make sure there is solid continuity in Room 13.  Mrs. G will be with us until November.

Besides two new staff members, we have some changes to grade levels for some of our teachers.  Ms. Diane Sasaki will be returning to the Resource Program and Mrs. Ashley Morris will become the Primary SDC teacher.  Mrs. Melanie de Monet will be teaching 2nd Grade while the team of Mrs. Malia Lammay and Mrs. Michelle Hayden will join the 3rd Grade team.  

Next year will be an exciting one at Springer, as we move to a new system for reporting student progress (more on this when we get back in the Fall) and continue to improve instruction to personalize learning for all students.  

Have a great weekend.

Wade Spenader- Principal