As the academic year unfolds, new teachers have infused our school corridors with fresh perspectives and rich histories from their previous educational landscapes. Each educator carries a unique blend of pedagogical approaches, classroom management strategies, and subject expertise, shaped by the diverse schools they’ve attended before joining the Triton community.
Three new teachers were recently interviewed here at Triton High School to give us some insights on their previous experiences in their old school buildings. These interviews were conducted to help us compare and contrast these buildings to our current ones to understand better where our building stands in regards to functionality.
Business Teacher Mr. Torres
With recent stories of violence in schools, having a solid security system can help ease some of the uncertainty of safety, but that isn’t the case for every school. Before coming to Triton, Francisco Torres taught at Boston Public Schools where he claims the safety concerns had a major impact on his teaching experience. “MPTVHS is a million-square-foot building with three floors that were not fully functional. I did not feel safe because the 200 doors did not have alarms or cameras. Students and other people could come into the building any time of the day. This created an unsafe place to work.” In contrast to these major safety concerns, Torres feels he has found himself in a much safer environment. “Here at Triton, our amenities are better in the sense of doors with buzzers plus cameras, as well as heat and AC. We also have clean facilities and janitors can be found.” Torres recognizes a better sense of security and with that, it has had an immense impact on his teaching experience.
Assistant Principal Mrs. Pacheco
Elizabeth Pacheco, the newly appointed vice principal alongside Joseph Celia, previously worked at Georgetown Middle High School in Georgetown. During our interview, she described her environment of work and the difficulty she and her students faced due to their given location and class sizes.“I taught in a classroom space that was not conducive to learning for 6 years. The classroom was an extension of the library and the 4th wall was a moveable partition that was transitioned to my classroom because it already had the wiring for a computer lab.” She states, “The students in the library were able to hear my class and visa versa. There were also 2 large support columns in awkward spaces. The classroom was also under the size requirements of square feet to students ratio. So, as my classes grew in size, that became more and more of an issue. As a result of those, I was not able to see certain desks in the classroom.” Unlike Torres who feels he’s witnessed a major upgrade between his previous school and Triton, Pacheco doesn’t. When asked if our current school has any facilities or spaces that are an upgrade from her previous community, she responded with a very straight-forward response, “No.” She continued, “There are a couple of spaces in our building that are underutilized at times – the courtyards! The courtyards we have here are beautiful regardless of the season. I would love to see more collaborative learning taking place in the courtyards.”
PE Teacher Mrs. Martin
Another new teacher to the Triton Community is, Megan Martin. She came to Triton from Wellesley High School. “My last school had a lot of money. The facilities were newer, maintained more often, and were very clean. We also had more money to purchase equipment.” For reference, Wellesley is the 3rd wealthiest town in the state of Massachusetts and it has 71.3 millionaires per mile which is the highest in the state of Massachusetts. Although the physical building and facilities may have been nicer, Martin has found Triton to be a much more welcoming place. “I would have to say that the teaching staff and administration are way more down to earth and less uptight than my last district. I appreciate this so much! So, having better and more open human beings to work with is definitely better.”
After interviewing these three new teachers here at Triton, I found that depending on what school district they came from, it determined their thoughts on Triton and its facilities.
