High school Principal Michael Tempesta's days are filled with much more than crunching budgets and supervising staff and students. This fall, his responsibilities include explaining iambic pentameter, similes and stanzas, and a little bit of Kurt Vonnegut's prose. Tempesta, a former English teacher, has stepped back into the classroom this year, co-teaching a level one English course for juniors with special education teacher Charlene Miller. He said he took on the course largely because the class otherwise would have had nearly 30 students in it - far more than is ideal, especially for teens who need some extra attention from their teacher. "Do you step in and take half of it, or you stick one teacher with this huge, really demanding class?" Tempesta said. Although the course presents some scheduling challenges for the principal, the answer was clear. "The secret for our success is definitely the small class sizes," he said. Tempesta said this is only one example of how high school staff is adapting to keep programs strong as resources shrink and enrollment grows. As of earlier this month, the high school had 18 more students than last year, with a total of nearly 750 teens. Ashland High is still doing well, Tempesta said, and is proud to offer 15 Advanced Placement classes and a host of honors courses that he believes offer students a better chance of being accepted to competitive colleges. "We've done incredibly well," he said, noti ...
Anytime
High school Principal Michael Tempesta's days are filled with much more than crunching budgets and supervising staff and students. This fall, his responsibilities include explaining iambic pentameter, similes and stanzas, and a little bit of Kurt Vonnegut's prose. Tempesta, a former English teacher, has stepped back into the classroom this year, co-teaching a level one English course for juniors with special education teacher Charlene Miller. He said he took on the course largely because the class otherwise would have had nearly 30 students in it - far more than is ideal, especially for teens who need some extra attention from their teacher. "Do you step in and take half of it, or you stick one teacher with this huge, really demanding class?" Tempesta said. Although the course presents some scheduling challenges for the principal, the answer was clear. "The secret for our success is definitely the small class sizes," he said. Tempesta said this is only one example of how high school staff is adapting to keep programs strong as resources shrink and enrollment grows. As of earlier this month, the high school had 18 more students than last year, with a total of nearly 750 teens. Ashland High is still doing well, Tempesta said, and is proud to offer 15 Advanced Placement classes and a host of honors courses that he believes offer students a better chance of being accepted to competitive colleges. "We've done incredibly well," he said, noti ...