By JENNA RHUDE
Moapa Valley Progress
The new school year is off to an exciting start. On Wednesday, August 8 local teachers gathered at Moapa Valley High School (MVHS) for an annual breakfast get together sponsored by the MV Rotary Club. Pancakes, sausage, eggs and juice were on the menu, served up by the local Rotarians and enjoyed by everyone.
The program began with some quick wit humor provided by the local principals. This musical act was accompanied on the keyboard by MVHS music teacher Kim Delgadillo.
New teachers were then introduced.
Hal Mortensen, who serves a principal for both MVHS and Ute Perkins Elementary School, announced that there were no new changes made at Perkins Elementary this year. But there were 2 new staff members at the high school, he said. Mitchell Ozaki and Suzanne Garlick have joined the school in the SPED department. Garlick is in her 4th year with the CCSD. She is married with 8 children. Her career has been teaching in autism, math resource, elementary resource K-12 and now with MVHS’s self contained unit. The Progress wasn’t able to catch up with Ozaki.
Mack Lyon Middle School principal Ken Paul then introduced his new teachers. Kristy Brooks has moved from teaching at Grant Bowler Elementary to the middle school. She is Lyon’s new digital coach. Gina Mortensen is now teaching 7th grade English at Lyon, while Cheryl Jack is teaching 7th grade US/NV history.
Next up was Grant Bowler Elementary principal Shawna Jessen. She told the crowd to buckle up, because she had quite a list.
Beginning in 5th grade is Tamara Harding. Harding joined Bowler last year in March, moving to a full time contracted position this year. She was a certified tutor at Perkins Elementary last year from October to March. Harding has taught 5th and 6th grade in Las Vegas. She has spent the majority of her time until now being a stay at home mom to her four children. She has always been involved with schools in one way or another. Many hours have been spent volunteering with PTO and tutoring.
New in 4th grade this year is Amy Keller. Keller has been substitute teaching while enjoying her roll as a stay at home mom to her 4 kids. While Keller is a native to our valley, she and her family moved to California where she finished her teaching degree.
Bowler also welcomes Michael Lacey who will be teaching third grade as a full time contracted teacher. Lacey is in his 2nd year of teaching for CCSD, spending the first year at McCall Elementary in Las Vegas. Previous to this he spent over 10 years working in the immunization department at Southern Nevada Health District.
Also welcomed to 3rd grade is Eva Ables. Ables is well known in the area as a substitute teacher and a stay at home mom to her family. Ables joins the school as a long term substitute in conjunction to doing her student teaching at the same time. She will graduate with her teaching degree in December.
Teaching 2nd grade will be long term substitute Lisa Lacey. Lisa has been serving as a substitute for 2 years and also has enjoyed being a stay at home mom to her 3 kids. Lisa is originally from Overton.
Melissa Evans and Becky Hardy have started a unique situation with 2nd grade. They are sharing a contract. This means that each teacher will evenly split their contracted days with the same class. They are setting up the split to be a week on week off. However, the split will be Wednesday through Tuesday.
“We felt it was very important for the kids to see each of us every school week,” Evans said. “A lot of thought was put into the way that our days were split. We communicate very well and feel this will be a good year for the kids.”
Evans has been a substitute teacher for 5 years, taught online school for 2 years, run a preschool for 2 years and participated in a coop preschool for 7 years. She and her husband have 6 kids and moved to the Valley 2 years ago.
Hardy is the other half of the shared contract. She received her teaching degree about 20 years ago and a Masters just 4 years ago. She has been substitute teaching for years while enjoying her time as a stay at home mom to her six children.
For first grade, Bowler brings on Becca Newsom as a long term substitute and Brian Linford as a newly contracted teacher. Newsom was not available at the time the article was written. But Linford is in his first year of teaching, having received his degree last year. Until that time he worked as a construction fleet manager. He and his family moved to Moapa Valley about five years ago.
Also joining Grant Bowler is Matt Bennett as assistant principal. Bennett was born and bred in education. Both his parents were teachers and he himself has 20 years within CCSD. Bennett has spent 8 years in the classroom, 3 years as an ECS and 12 years in administration. He lives in St. George, Utah with his family. He has 4 children.
One thing unique to Bowler Elementary is that they have 4 married couples that work at the school. These include Mr. and Mrs. Hardy, Mr. and Mrs. Linford, Mr. and Mrs. Lacey and Mr. and Mrs. Viers. (Mr. Viers is a regular substitute at the schools.)
A warm welcome to all Valley teachers and staff as a new school year begins.
