This is one in a series of Q&A’s with employees new to Denair Unified in 2023-24.
Family: Wife, Nicole
School: Denair Elementary Charter Academy
Subject taught: Second grade
Experience and education: Third-year teacher BA in sociology.
What attracted you to Denair? I was attracted to Denair because I went to school here K-12 and I worked here as a special education para while I was attending college.
What most inspires you about teaching? Being able to be a positive male role model for the students who need it in my hometown.
What is a challenge you look forward to tackling this year? Learning to work with my second-grade class should pose an interesting challenge since I have worked with sixth-graders the last two years.
What is your favorite teaching tool or activity? My favorite activity is participating in brain breaks with my students. It completely brings the energy back into the lesson when needed!
What do you want your students to remember? To always be kind to other students because you never know what their story is.
How can parents support what you do? Being open for communication and ready to support their students by helping me learn about what drives their child to succeed.
What would surprise people about your job? Teachers are just as much students as they are teachers. The profession is constantly evolving and adapting to create greater success for students. It feels like the most rewarding career in the world because of this.
What do you do for fun? I enjoy exercising and playing video games with my friends online.
This is one in a series of Q&A’s with employees new to Denair Unified in 2023-24.
Family: Son, Liam (2 years old)
School: Denair High School
Subject taught: AVID/ PE
Experience and education: I have a BA in kinesiology from CSU Stanislaus and an MA in health education from Southern Oregon University. I have been a health teacher and JV basketball coach at Gustin High School (2017-19), a fifth-grade teacher at TEAM Charter school (2021-22) and a health/PE teacher at Ashland Middle School (2016-17).
What attracted you to Denair? I love small towns and the sense of pride within them. I am originally from a small town in Oregon and I feel compassion for the “small yet mighty” communities.
What most inspires you about teaching? I enjoy the challenges that come with guiding our youth and a strong motivation for helping them become independent and driven adults.
What is a challenge you look forward to tackling this year? I am looking forward to familiarizing myself with the Denair community and finding my place among students, faculty and families!
What is your favorite teaching tool or activity? Exit tickets and CFU because I love receiving feedback from my students. Also, I love when I can be humorous with students and have the opportunity to know them better through having fun.
What do you want your students to remember? I want all students to know that I support them through their decisions and I am full of love and humor to share with our community.
How can parents support what you do? My big focus is to hold students accountable for their actions and guide them to be prepared for all situations in life.
What would surprise people about your job? Teaching was not my first choice as a career, but after so many professors, counselors and close friends/ family members continued to bring it up, I decided to explore the option and I never turned back.
What do you do for fun? I love, love, love camping! Anything outdoors. My son and I are always on the go, looking for our next adventure. At home, we go swimming a lot when it’s hot; and when it’s cold, if we are not outside enjoying the rain, we love to sit in front of the fireplace with lots of snacks and a scary movie!
Parents and other visitors to Denair High – or anyone driving by the school on Lester Road – will notice a big change taking place on campus. Security fencing is being added around the front of the campus.
It’s a project that has been much discussed for many years, explained Superintendent Terry Metzger, who said protecting students, staff and school property is the primary objective.
“DHS’s campus is by far our most open and accessible campus,” Metzger said. “We love this for the community feel, but it poses some significant security concerns. Specifically, the lack of fencing at the perimeter of the school means that people have easy access to the school during the weekends and evenings, and we’ve seen some vandalism and theft as a result.”
The first part of the two-phase project is expected to be completed by the end of the month. It involves repurposing some existing wrought-iron fencing that surrounded the amphitheater in the interior of the campus. Members of the school district’s maintenance staff removed the fencing and the district hired Denair Fencing, Inc. to install the new posts and security gates.
“That interior fencing wasn’t really providing security and relocating it is allowing us to open up the quad area in the center of the campus, which is better for our growing enrollment,” Metzger said.
The result will be a fence around the perimeter of the campus beginning at the south parking lot near the stadium and gym and continuing around the main office and classrooms adjacent to the north parking lot. All visitors to campus will be funneled through the main office, where they must sign in before being allowed go any further.
The security gates will be opened to allow students and staff to enter campus before classes begin at 8:30 a.m., locked throughout the day and then re-opened when school is over in mid-afternoon.
The second phase of the project – expected to begin and be completed next spring – will extend the security fencing around the back side of the campus, where the ag classrooms and shop areas are located.
This is one in a series of Q&A’s with employees new to Denair Unified in 2023-24.
Family: Husband, Davide; daughter, Nelinha
School: Denair Middle School
Subject taught: Moderate/severe special education teacher
Experience and education: I worked at a day program with individuals with behavioral support needs for four years. I was a 1-1 paraprofessional in the moderate/severe special education class at Denair High School for two school years for two students. I received my BA in liberal arts at CSU Stanislaus in 2018.
What attracted you to Denair? Denair reminded me of the school I went to. A small community that is united and wants the best for its students.
What most inspires you about teaching? Making a difference in our students’ lives and seeing the growth from each individual student.
What is a challenge you look forward to tackling this year? A challenge I look forward to tackling this year as a first-year teacher is learning the curriculum.
What is your favorite teaching tool or activity? A favorite teaching tool is using the classroom money daily and using the classroom store for positive reinforcement at the end of the week.
What do you want your students to remember? I want my students to remember I will always advocate for them and their needs, and I want them to know I will always seek inclusion for my students.
How can parents support what you do? Parents can support what I do by communicating any question or concerns they have. I believe in working as a team with parents to best support their student.
What would surprise people about your job? This job can be hard, but there is so much reward that comes with it, too.
What do you do for fun? I enjoy hanging out with my little family, cooking and baking, and being near the beach.
It was a shocking start to the season – literally – for the Denair High football team.
Trailing 14-6 at halftime Saturday night, the Coyotes never got a chance to try to catch up against Big Valley Christian.
That’s because lightning strikes to the east that were creeping ever closer to Jack Lytton Stadium presented an obvious and imminent safety risk to the players, coaches, fans and officials, forcing Denair High Principal Breanne Aguiar and head coach Anthony Armas to cancel the rest of the game.
“It wasn’t easy, but it was the right call,” Armas explained Monday. “They wanted to play, we wanted to play. Everybody was bummed.”
Armas said he saw at least four or five lightning bolts light up the sky late in the first half. Though they were off to the east, the problem was that they were moving in the direction of the stadium.
“I have a friend with a weather app who was tracking it,” Armas said. “It was getting worse. The storm was coming.”
At halftime, the game officials told Armas that it wasn’t up to them to decide whether to continue play; that he and Aguiar were the ones who had to make the call.
“It was kind of chaotic,” Armas said. “I was in the locker room. I was on the phone to our principal. We thought we should call the game. Then I had to find the officials and the other coach. It was hard. It’s the first game of the season and the kids wanted to play, the fans were there, but it was the right decision.”
Before the weather interrupted it, the actual game was going about as Armas expected, especially for the first week. The Coyotes made a few mistakes, but were hanging in there.
“Even with all of that happening, we’re only down eight points,” Armas said. “On defense, I thought we pursued the ball well. We limited our penalties. Offensively, there’s stuff we have to fine tune. We did fumble on our first play from scrimmage, but other than that, we didn’t have any turnovers.”
Jesse Ruelas’ short touchdown run in the first quarter cut Big Valley’s lead to 7-6. The Lions added another TD in the second period to make it 14-6 … and then Mother Nature decided she had other plans.
Not surprisingly, with only 14 players on its varsity roster, stamina was an issue for Denair.
“I thought we were a little gassed, but that’s what you expect with the numbers we have,” Armas said.
The lack of depth became an even bigger issue before the game when wingback Jayden Hensley hurt his knee in warmups and couldn’t play. Armas expected to learn Monday how serious the injury might be.
“We had no backups for that position,” he said. “We took one of our wide receivers, Angel Rosas, and moved him to wingback. Every play, one of our coaches would have to tell him what to do. ‘Angel, you’re going to line up on the right and block No. 3.’ ”
The roster issues were exacerbated with 3 seconds to play in the first half when one of Denair’s linemen got into a shoving match on the Big Valley sideline with a player he was trying to block. The officials ultimately kicked both players out of the game – meaning each will have to sit out three games before they are eligible to play again.
Coupled with Hensley’s injury, the means Denair has only 12 players left who started practice last month. Armas said there are no reinforcements coming from the JV team – which won its game 21-8 – but that two guys who played on last year’s team and initially were not going to play this season changed their minds. After passing physicals, they were expected to join the team at practice Monday, bringing the Coyotes back to 14 eligible and/or healthy players.
The new players are required to have 10 practices before they can play a game, giving them just enough time to be ready before Denair plays at Riverbank on Sept. 1 (the Coyotes have a bye this week).
Without a doubt, though, the biggest memory from the season opener will be the lightning and how it dramatically affected everyone’s plans Saturday night.
“It was the first time I’ve ever had a game called like that,” Armas said. “It was weird.”
