As the new school year began, Encinal students were preparing for new classes, events, and teachers—while administrators scrambled to staff enough Biology sections for everyone. Breaking from tradition, freshmen are now taking Biology instead of Physics, joining sophomores in the course. But with two grades enrolled and a larger freshman class, more Biology sections set a need for more teachers.
There are currently 488 students taking Biology and only 14 sections, or at least there was meant to be. The teacher who was originally supposed to teach Biology for the sophomore class suddenly had to take a leave of absence before the first day of school, leaving the Biology class without a teacher for the next few weeks of school.
“I was confused,” said sophomore Madeline Halisky. “I thought the teacher would just show up eventually.”
For the first two weeks of school, classes were filled with various substitutes, including Ms. Walker and Mr. Tongi, who were all trying their best to keep the class caught up but with little success.
“We still had assignments, but there’s was no pressure to actually finish them,” said sophomore Jimena Cerna. “It felt very free and I enjoyed talking to my friends, but no learning was happening, where it should be.”
On the evening of Aug. 17, 2025, Principle Kirstin Snyder posted an update on Parent Square to announce the hiring of the new biology teacher, David Boone, who started the week of Aug. 25, 2025.
“I do know that [Mr. Boone] has a Ph.D. and that he was working for the government,” said vice principal Timothy Zolezzi. “So he’s a proper scientist and this will be his first education experience.”
To make up for the fact that there were not enough teachers and too many students, teachers such as Frank Beering (the past physics teacher now teaching biology), and Marcelo Kim had to take on extra classes. The average teacher in Encinal takes on about five classes while Beering and Kim have taken on six, with an extra 20% pay to make up for the freshman course switch and increased number of students, with class sizes ranging from 32 to 38 students.
“My biggest [class] still has 38 people in it and my smallest probably has 32, so they are quite full, but I only have one that’s overly full,” said Beering. “The [school] contract says 35 is the limit, but the contract also says that the counselors in the administration have the first 20 school days to work it out; to move people around so they’re all 35 or less.”
As the course progresses, the three teachers meet twice a week to discuss what would be fun activities and lessons to have the students do, as they are “reinventing the course as they go”.
“I like the privilege of working with people,” said Beering. “[I’m] overwhelmed at the moment, and we’re still inventing some of the curriculum. I spend my lunches and after school making lots and lots of copies myself. I have 210 students this year, so that’s just lots and lots of copies.”
Even though the struggle of trying to find a new Biology teacher has been resolved, learning how to cope with so many students and the new curriculum hasn’t been easy for any of the teachers nor students.
“I think we’re going to be a little behind as a class,” said Halisky. “But with this teacher, hopefully, we’ll be able to catch up.”
