Employee positions have shifted lately, causing a little confusion for the students of Marcus Whitman. While the changes aren’t momentous, they are something





Photos Taken By Cierra Perot



worth reviewing. Ms. Taft and Mr. Lopez, the deans of students of the high school and middle school respectively, experienced the brunt of the changes.

Recently, the school district of Marcus Whitman has installed a new program, the Whitman Teacher Resource Center. Since the position was created, Ms. Taft was hired to head the program. The Whitman Resource Center is a program open to the district that helps teachers with various components. The program will help provide teachers with professional development such as classes and seminars, technology opportunities such as online courses, new teacher training and mentoring, and collegial circles where they can discuss things like student improvement.

Ms. Taft decided to apply for the position because she was interested in becoming involved with teachers and the district on a different level. Her positions, as dean of students and leader of the program, overlapped slightly as the new position started in March and her position as dean ended recently. Although the new position will keep her located at the high school, Ms. Taft says she “will miss the everyday connection [she] shares with the high school students,” and she is looking forward to the new challenge of balancing teacher and district incentives.

Since Ms. Taft is no longer the high school dean of students, Mr. Lopez has taken over. Although he is still the middle school dean of students, he now balances his time between both disciplinary offices. Generally, he is in the middle school first period through third. Then he is in the high school for the remainder of the day. He monitors both schools and can be present should problems arise. Mr. Lopez is excited that his new position will provide him with the opportunity to see high school students he would not see otherwise, but he misses the connection he had with the middle school students and the students that attended the two classes that he taught.

Since the change of position occurred towards the middle of the school year, it may take some time to adjust. Students should feel comfortable going to either Ms. Taft or Mr. Lopez should they have any problems, and both encourage students to stop in and say, “hello.”