19 new faculty members have joined the VHS staff
Last school year, VHS said goodbye to 15 teachers, 10 of whom retired. Going into the 2024-25 school year, VHS has welcomed 19 new faculty members, including 15 new teachers and a new assistant principal.
Among these new teachers, Farima Farokhi, a former elementary school librarian in Kansas City, KS, has replaced retired librarian Susan Adamich. “I really want the library to feel like a community, so if students ever have suggestions for things that we should add or have available, just to let me know,” said Farokhi.
Previously working in the Rio School District, Paul Martin, a speech and language pathologist has also joined the staff. “I used to be a social worker and I worked with children who had developmental disabilities. And then, as part of that job, I worked with speech therapists, and I saw how they had really helped children develop their language skills. And I thought that I was interested in having a more direct experience and connection with students I’ve always loved language. I studied linguistics, so I thought it looked really interesting, and I wanted to do it, so I went to graduate school and became a speech therapist,” said Martin.
Fender Carnine, the new auto shop teacher came from Nordhoff High School, where he taught for 24 years. “This program has been around for a long time. My parents actually went to Ventura High School, and my dad took this exact class. The richness of the history behind this program is pretty inspiring,” said Carnine.
“As an English teacher, specifically, I really like the freedom that a lot of teachers have in terms of how they approach teaching the content in the standards. I feel like there’s a lot of trust and a lot of freedom given to teachers here,” said Collins.
Don’t forget to give these new teachers and staff a welcome, and be patient and helpful as they learn how to navigate VHS.
