Mrs. Balisciano went on maternity leave at the end of last school year. Mrs. Balisciano also decided to take a year-long leave of absence to focus on raising her beautiful baby boy.
While this comes as good news to the Balisciano family, for the many students who had enrolled in Independent Living, Fashion Design, Child Development, or the Early Childhood Education Seminar and Internship classes, this news comes as a major disappointment.
Students who had selected these courses back in the spring were not thrilled to hear from their counselors that their schedules had to be changed just a week before the new school year began.
Mrs. Balisciano notified WHS Principal Kirk Samuelson of her decision in April, and by the end of spring break, Mr. Samuelson had posted the position. However, for about a month, there were no candidates submitting applications for the long term substitute job, Mr. Samuelson says.
“There are fewer people going into teaching these days, and those who are are not getting the Family Consumer Science certification.”
After a month passed, three things happened to speed up the hiring process. First, Mr. Samuelson reached out to his round table group, which includes all of the principals in the state, and asked if they knew anybody interested in the position, such as a recent retiree. Then, Central Office notifies everybody in the state with that type of certification. Finally, Michael Bono, the Family Consumer Sciences department chair, sent an email to all graduate programs in the state, asking if they have a recent graduate interested in the job. “We blanketed the entire state,” Mr. Samuelson said.
Eventually, two applicants were found, and one had the proper qualifications. In early summer, the applicant was brought in for an interview and verbally accepted the job offer. Only a week later, the teacher was no longer available, due to scheduling conflicts with her personal life.
For counselors, this meant placing their caseload into their second or third choice electives, unbeknownst to the students, but along with Mr. Samuelson, the counselors held out hope that a different teacher would be found to fill the role.
In the early summer, administration went through the same application process, which resulted in two more applicants. Neither applicant was certified in Family Consumer Sciences, but the candidate would just have to agree to take a Praxis II exam in order to complete their qualifications for the job. A Praxis II exam shows mastery of the content, Mr. Samuelson explains.
Of the two, one of the candidates was willing to take the exam and officially accepted the role. “Everything was on track for the beginning of the school year. One week before school started, the teacher put in their letter of resignation, “ Mr. Samuelson said.
The counselors, who had since re-enrolled students in their chosen Family Consumer Science courses and sent out the schedules via PowerSchool, had one week to accommodate over 110 students whose schedules were impacted.
Director of School Counseling Holly Saad, said that the schedule changes were particularly strenuous on school counselors, as they had a short amount of time to rearrange courses. “Many of the other electives are at max capacity for student enrollment.” With limited options and a short time frame, school counselors had to work extra hard to accommodate the students in their caseload.
“Some seniors needed these classes to meet graduation requirements,” Mrs. Saad says. These students were the first students who the counselors needed to make changes for. Saad added that most of the students who were especially disheartened were the seniors because they would not have a chance to take the classes in the future.
The decision not to repost the position for a third time was a hard one, Mr. Samuelson says. “Independent living is a popular course… We have a lot of students interested in pursuing education, so Child Development and Early Childhood education are really important. It crushes me that we weren’t able to run them this year.”
Ultimately, Mr. Samuelson and Superintendent Thomas Giard made the decision not to repost the position due to the limited amount of time, but also because it was in the best interest of the students. “Even if we tried to fill the position again, there was ultimately no guarantee that students would be able to finish out the coursework.”
Sophomore Hannah Hall, who previously took Child Development with Mrs. Balisciano, has plans to take Early Childhood Education and possibly Fashion Design or Independent Living, in her upperclassmen years.
“I would be really upset if these classes don’t come back, as I was really looking forward to taking them and learning a lot more about the early childhood experiences.”
The Early Childhood Education class was split into two semesters that almost all students paired together: the seminar and the internship. It was a class only available to those with junior or senior standing, although its prerequisite, Child Development, was open to all grade levels.
Most students do not realize that maintaining a certain grade in this class would result in a credit from the CT State Community College Three Rivers. This opportunity is advantageous to students looking to go into education as a college major and/or career path, because a transcript from Three Rivers could check off one of the courses they would be required to take at a higher institution.
Hall says, “education is a path that I am really considering for after high school.” Classes that provide transferable college credits allow students to get an invaluable learning experience, as well as the opportunity to go into college with earned credits, which saves time and money.
For students looking to go into education, the opportunity to immerse themselves in a classroom setting during high school in an internship program is especially important, so that they can see firsthand whether early childhood education is truly a path they want to pursue.
Senior Audrey Hunter, who has taken both Child Development and Early Childhood Education with Mrs. Balisciano, advocates for these courses: “I am so glad that I took the course last year. The hand-on experience I got from doing my internship in Mrs. Tonucci’s preschool class helped me affirm my decision to pursue education as a major, and I know that for a few of my classmates, it helped them realize that education might not be for them after all.”
Mr. Samuelson says he feels “most disappointed for the seniors,” but is expecting to see all of the courses return next year.
Mr. Samuelson adds that Waterford High School is lucky to have Mrs. Balisciano because Family Consumer Science teachers are a “rare breed.” “My advice to anyone who wants to become a Family Consumer Science teacher is to go to school and get certified because you can have your choice of schools.”
While these four courses are on hold for the time being, they should return to the program of studies for the coming 2025 academic year.
