Published in the April 27 – May 10, 2016 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Teresa Sermersheim
Teresa Sermersheim
I am a current Morgan Hill resident who once lived in San Jose — you know, the big city of one million people a few miles north of here in the heart of Silicon Valley. San Jose was where I grew up. It’s where I graduated from San Jose State University. I thought everything San Jose did was the right way to do things.
When I signed my contract in August 1990 to work as a teacher for the Morgan Hill Unified School District, I knew very little about Morgan Hill, the little agricultural town a few miles down the road from San Jose. I had heard that there was a square-dancing group called “The Morgan Hillbillies.” Buffalo, wild pigs and llamas were some of the animals I had seen on the drive to my interview. “What am I getting myself into?” I asked myself. This was definitely not San Jose.
As I learned more about the community in the heart of the South Valley farm country, I discovered that in Morgan Hill’s schools sixth grade was taught at the elementary level, not at the middle school like back in San Jose. And ninth grade was taught at the middle school and not the high school. San Jose had made these changes of grade configuration decades earlier. I was worried that my new place of employment might be a little behind the times. Luckily, I was wrong. Cutting-edge strategies were being used here in the MHUSD. The administration made sure workshops were held so that teachers were ready and prepared to provide students with an outstanding education.
After a few years teaching in Morgan Hill, I saw the district make a major change. The ninth-grade middle schoolers became freshmen at Live Oak High School. It was a bit traumatic for some parents back then to see the switch-over, but they somehow survived. Now we’re going through a similar change in our school district. This upcoming school year we’ll see a new change in our grade configuration in the MHUSD based on a decision the board of trustees made last summer. Our current fifth graders will, when the new school year starts in August, walk into their classrooms as proud sixth graders at either Martin Murphy or Britton middle schools.
What do I think of all these changes? I think they are going to be fantastic! Those sixth graders will have dedicated teachers who will concentrate on their subject matter expertise. The students will have opportunities of leadership and classroom resources that are not available at the elementary level.
I am thrilled that my fifth graders will be attending our two middle schools in the 2016-2017 school year. No doubt the transition will be hard for some of them and their families. But hey, life is about changing — and the lesson we all learn as we mature is that sometimes you have to readjust your perspective and deal with the changes life presents. I’m confident my fifth graders, as well as the fifth graders at all our elementary schools, are mature enough to succeed in middle school.
Everyone in the MHUSD staff in the administration and on campuses are now stepping up to make the upcoming change as seamless and painless as possible. As the middle schools ready themselves for more students, the buzz and excitement from their staff is contagious. Four teachers from P.A. Walsh STEAM Academy are joining the students and heading off to our middle schools. They have been preparing and planning for many months and are eager to make the move.
I’ve figured it out now. Morgan Hill does not have to be “just like” San Jose. We do things here at the right time for us. That time is now.
Teresa Sermersheim has worked for MHUSD for more than 25 years. She is principal at P.A. Walsh STEAM Academy and loves living in Morgan Hill.
