With the 2023-2024 school year coming to a close, administrators have started to make plans for next year. Several GHS teachers, from various departments, have been selected to make the move across Highway 370 to GEHS.
“GEHS is growing in size, and we actually are going to shrink in size for next school year,” Principal Todd Mueller said. “There are roughly 750-ish students [at GEHS], and then they are going to end up going to probably just under 1,000, and then we are going from right around 1,100, [and] we are going to be around 900 next year. So like I said, we are getting smaller, they’re getting bigger.”
In total, there are seven teachers who will be transferred for this upcoming school year:
- math teacher Steven Emmerick;
- English teachers Kiley Luchsinger and Jennifer Smith;
- art teacher Alexa Rohde;
- gym teacher Jake Smith;
- counselor Lisa Hatch;
- and ACC room teacher Zachary Orton.
“You sign a contract to teach in Gretna,” Principal Mueller said. “We would never guarantee that you are going to be at a building or stay at a building for your entire career, because if you’re needed somewhere else, they will move you somewhere else. So, I would imagine there would be other moves.”
While it was only recently announced, the decision of which teachers would move over to GEHS was made earlier this semester. The administrators determined this by looking at Google Forms the teachers filled out previously, which asked which school they would prefer to work at.
“The majority of it actually is based on need,” Mueller said. “Like who is certified to teach what classes and what classes does [Gretna] East need filled and also what do we have extras of.”
Many of the teachers expressed that they will miss the students and teachers most at GHS. However, they are also looking forward to their moves for the same reason.
“I have a couple students here that I love being with, and they make my job worth coming to,” English teacher Kiley Luchsinger said. “The same thing that I am sad about leaving here, I am excited about getting to at East. I have some really good friends there, and I have some really great students that I miss, so I am excited to see them again.”
Several of the teachers who are moving over to GEHS are involved in activities and sports at GHS. The teachers who sponsor or coach will change next year as spots will need to be filled here at GHS. Luchsinger and Emmerich, specifically, are involved in drama and the Gay Straight Alliance club (GSA), respectively, but will not be the sole advisors of those activities at GEHS.
“Here I run the drama club and thespian troupe, and I am also the drama teacher, but when I go to Gretna East, I will no longer be the drama teacher because somebody else teaches drama there,” Luchsinger said. “So, I will only be teaching English, but I will still do drama club and thespian troupe there.”
