The start of the 2024-25 school year brings some changes to the school’s administration staff. With the departure of Brooke Fesco, the former associate principal and now Memorial High School principal, Tyler Wicke, a former assistant principal, is now in Fesco’s position.
“It’s a process that built over a long period of time in working and leading people in the classroom and athletics,” Wicke said. “The most specific thing I do is building the master schedule. I don’t build it on my own, but serve as the point person and [develop] the professional developments for our teachers.”
With Wicke’s promotion, another position, assistant principal, was left open, which was filled by former AP Biology and Environmental Science teacher, Richard Sabatier.
“I taught here for eight years and I’ve been an assistant principal for a couple of weeks,” Sabatier said. “Ms. Whaling called me one evening and asked me ‘Would you like to be our new AP’. I had gone through the interview process, I replied yes, and here we are.”
Sabatier’s former students lament his departure from the classroom, citing their wonderful experiences with him.
“I had Mr.Sabatier for AP bio, he was an amazing teacher,” senior Claire Graham said. “He would jump on tables and dress up in costumes and do whatever he could to keep the class engaged. I’m sad he’s becoming an AP so I can’t have him for APES this year, but I know he’s going to do amazing.”
Senior Michelle Quan believes the students who didn’t have Sabatier will have “missed out” on an amazing learning experience.
“His classes were always pretty chill and I never really felt stressed about them,” Quan said. “Overall, he was a really fun teacher and I enjoyed his class a lot. The underclassmen missed out on a good science teacher for sure, but I think he’ll be chill even if he is an AP.”
Although Sabatier is disappointed in no longer commanding a classroom, he believes his new role will allow him to diversify his interactions.
“It’ll definitely be different,” Sabatier said. “Spending time with [students] all day is why I got into the job. I’ll still be interacting with students, but I guess I’ll be interacting with more students than before.”
