The hiring of an additional math teacher was approved by Wenatchee School District Superintendent Brian Flones on May 18.

A meeting was called by Wenatchee High School Assistant Principal Ricardo Iniguez to address the need for additional staff members to accommodate the influx of students. After careful deliberation, the hiring was approved. The issue had been brought forward to district administrators earlier this year, but had been declined.

“We knew there might be a need, we had talked about it earlier when we were discussing staffing. At that time we had approved another science teacher. We weren’t exactly sure what the numbers were going to be and weren’t able to make a decision at that time,” Flones said. “Looking at the numbers and looking at the amount of freshmen students gave us a better idea of what we needed. As we looked at it, we felt like the best option would be adding a teacher at the high school.”

An English teacher was also requested by the high school and was declined. The district has not planned any resolutions to the request.

“We look at the numbers and what class sections we plan on having. It’s all an estimate, sometimes we hit it fairly well, sometimes we have larger classes in the fall,” Flones said. “The incoming class is between 625 and 635 students. We are preparing for it, we’re adding a new science portable this summer to support that … Hiring an additional English teacher was not discussed during the meeting… Our enrollment should be fine.”

Hiring an additional math teacher will decrease class sizes, which allows teachers to give students more personal attention, and allow more students to get into the classes they want, according to math department head Bob Swardz.

“I just wish they would have done it sooner,” Swardz said. “I’m glad they made the decision but students have already begun signing up for classes and we’ve already made a math schedule based on number of teachers we currently have here, not the additional teacher.”

The additional teacher will require the math department to reschedule the math classes and add more sections for students to take.

“Because students are already scheduled, we have less flexibility where we can move those classes around. It makes our job harder,” Swardz said. “Some things will have to be switched around … but this will make next year easier on the students.”