New staff, teachers join DBHS
September 15, 2016
The start of the new school year brought not only the class of 2020, but also several new administrative members and teachers.
The departure of both Principal Catherine Real, a year ago, and Vice Principal John Terry, this summer, prompted the arrival of the new principal, Reuben Jones and the return of former Instructional Dean David Hong as assistant principal.
“Being an assistant principal at Diamond Bar High School is very different from being a dean,” Hong said. “I’ve seen a lot of assistant principals and my only hope right now is to step into this role and carry on with what Mr. Terry started and what he was doing.”
Whitney Prenger was another addition to the administrative team. Previously a teacher of Pathways English and English Language Development, she is now one of the three instructional deans, along Gabriel Aguilar and Matthew Brummett.
Her primary role now includes overseeing the curriculum and instruction in the English, world languages, and performing arts department.
After former GLC Jack Galeener retired, former Intervention Counselor Stephanie Duenas stepped up as the new GLC for the class of 2017. As a result of this shift, former English teacher Lauren Osajima-Baird took over Duenas’ previous role as an intervention counselor.
With long time English teachers Deborah Clifford and Susan Klinger retiring and Osajima-Baird and Prenger moving positions on campus, several new faces in the English department have appeared.
Esther Cho, Alexis Feix, who also coaches girls tennis, Brianna Woods, former student teacher of Denise Mesdijan, and Cage Morgan were hired to fill the open positions in the English department.
“I’ve always heard great things about Diamond Bar High School and I know people who actually went here and graduated here. I’ve heard that the staff is really great and the school culture is amazing; everyone is so hardworking, friendly, and respectful,” Cho said.
In addition, English teacher and DBHS yearbook alumna Stacy Tenace has taken over Clifford’s previous role as yearbook advisor.
Several departments other than the English department have also gained new Brahma family members. Teachers An Tran, Luke Shubin, Linda Morales teach CTE Architecture Engineering, AP Computer Science and MOUS respectively.
“It’s always hard when you lose a lot of experience. However, I think that our staff has always been able to respond well to change and step up and fill in those gaps that are created,” Hong said. “This is a good school with an outstanding staff and I think we’ll go on. We’ll be okay.”
Tametha Fulcher, who previously worked with Diamond Bar in the Special Education department, now holds a full time position in the department.
“Whenever someone retires or moves on, there’s always a loss to our school. Everyone here gives so much of themselves to this school. I’m so excited about the team that we have,” Principal Jones said.
