Biology Teacher Retires, Replaced

Principal Wynne Satterwhite announced biology teacher Suzanne Williams’ retirement for the 2010-2011 school year on Friday, April 23.

Chemistry teacher Danielle Paige will take over AP Biology, which Williams currently teaches.

According to Paige, the decision was made on Thursday, April 22, a day before the news was revealed. However, it “was not too surprising” as Williams had been thinking about retiring for a while.

“Ms. Williams originally thought she had one more year to go,” Paige said. “This really just came up.”

Williams said she made the decision after she sold her house. She plans to move to Idaho in order to spend more time with her family. As Williams does not have any relatives in the area, moving to Idaho will allow her to spend more time with her daughter and grandchildren.

Williams also wants to move to Idaho so that she can purchase a ranch for her animals.

“I really like Idaho and there, I can have a place for my horse, dog and chickens,” Williams said.

According to Williams, leaving her position as a teacher at the school will be difficult.

“It was a hard decision, Williams said. “Of all the classes I teach, [AP Biology] is the class I will miss the most.”

However, Williams is not worried about retiring as she is turning over her job to Paige, who currently teaches both regular and honors chemistry.

“I’m leaving the students in good hands,” Williams said.

Paige also has positive feelings about taking on the new position. Paige majored in biology, however, when she first came to the school there were not many classes that required biology teachers. Now that the space is open, she is eager to begin teaching biology.

“I’ve always been interested in AP Biology,” Paige said.

In terms of experience, Paige feels that she is ready for the job as she has been shadowing the AP Biology class for several years.

Regarding her current chemistry classes, Paige is unsure whether she will continue teaching them in the
upcoming school year but she knows “for sure” that she will teach both AP Biology classes.

However, as a result of her taking the new job, Paige will be retiring as the head of the Science Department. Paige says that she is stepping down from the job as she would like to focus on teaching the AP Biology classes, which, according to her, is a course with “an intense curriculum.”

Balancing her many jobs this year as Science Department head, Paige had to design the Chemistry Honors curriculum, which is a new course this year, in addition to taking care of her two young children. All in all, Paige said the year has been a bit overwhelming for her.

“It’s a lot,” Paige said. “I’ve felt stretched this year being the department chair, having a young family and working on developing the [Chemistry] Honors course curriculum.”

By leaving her position as the head of the Science Department, Paige feels that she can focus her energies on preparing for the AP Biology course.

“I love teaching, so I just want to focus on that,” Paige said.