Students and teachers will return from spring break to a brand-new building.  The new Bear Creek will have an area of about 252,000 square feet, much larger than the current building.  So why, then, do some teachers have their own rooms when others do not?

            Most of the teachers who are currently in C-Hall will have to share rooms.

            According to Kay Newcomer, Bear Creek’s instructional coach, “All the teachers who need rooms have rooms.”  She said that the teachers who are sharing rooms do not need their own.

            The school’s athletic director, Lynn Torr, said that although some teachers may not have their own rooms, there will still be fewer teachers who jump from room to room.  “It is a huge improvement from the current situation,” he said.  A lot of the teachers who now have to move from room to room will have their own space in the new building.

October Minnotte, assistant principals, said that the teachers who will share rooms in the new building have always shared rooms.  She also said that the reason the rooming assignments have worked out this way is because certain teachers in specific departments serve their students in different ways and do not require their own rooms.  “Teachers in those classrooms often co-teach in other classrooms,” said Minnotte.

            “While I understand why I don’t have my own room, it is unfortunate because having your own room allows you to create your own culture,” said Mike Suarez, ESL teacher.

            Michelle Ellis, ESL teacher, agreed that teachers with their own rooms can create their own environments, but also said that having one universal classroom can be beneficial to students.  Having “the one space” that is universal to all ESL students can be good for them, she said.