14 teachers resigned from the 2016/17 school year, leaving the rest of the staff to compensate. The administration also decided to rehire six english teachers instead of seven this school year, which left the English department with one less position. Tharyn Mulberry, the AHS principal, had never experienced losing this many teachers before.

“One of the things that always happens when you lose teachers is it can increase class sizes,” Mulberry said.

Currently classes range from ten to 26 students, which makes a big difference on how teachers can connect with their students. Sarah Ward, an English and journalism teacher at AHS, has been teaching at the school for five years.

“I’ve always seem to have one or two really big classes and the rest are somewhere between 16-18. That’s exactly what I have this year, so personally I haven’t had a change in class sizes,” Ward said.

While the fluctuation of class sizes seem to be a challenge for some teachers, Sarah Ward believes that creating a bond with students will help some of the larger classes.

“Connections with students are key. It is always harder in larger classes. It takes longer. I don’t think those connections are less strong, I think that it will often take longer to form,” Ward said.

Cerena Thomsen, the head of the English department, has been teaching at the school district for 13 years. She hypothesized reasons of why this decision was made.  

“In looking at our numbers, [John Maloy] might’ve said to Tharyn you have these choices and he chose amongst them. The result is that we are teaching only one elective and we have fewer space in our classes for students who are taking a class because they want to versus that they have to,” Thomsen said.