As the 2025-26 school year at Middle College High School (MCHS) comes to an end and students begin preparing for the upcoming school year, some teachers are uncertain whether they will return, including teacher Vanessa Villalpando.
For this school year, Villalpando taught all of the six sections of ninth grade AVID, but she did as well teach English 10 the previous school year. She quite enjoyed teaching only one subject this school year. However, Villalpando knew from the beginning of this school year that she was most likely not going to return the following year.
“Teachers start almost a week before you start, we start. We get 3 days of professional development, and I was called one day before…and I was told it was a temporary assignment. So I knew I was only here for a year. I knew I wasn’t gonna be here permanently,” Villalpando said.
Due to this, Villalpando had to wait until she was officially notified by the district that her contract for the 2025-26 school year was coming to an end.
“Because, by law, they have to notify you in March, whether or not you are staying or leaving. And so, I think in February, March, I got my vinyl letter saying, like, your contract is ending,” Villalpando said.
When taking into consideration other teachers who have received notice that their contracts were coming to an end and the massive layoffs that occurred last year, Villapando believes this has a negative impact overall.
“It was a lot of middle schools, elementary schools, and high schools that had a lot of positions that weren’t filled that we had substitutes, or we had one day substitutes, or long term substitutes, and that does impact student learning,” Villapando said.
As mentioned by Villalpando, to be a substitute, you only need a bachelor’s degree to become one. Students often need teachers who are well qualified to be able to challenge their intellectual abilities. Villalpando strongly believes that this especially applies to MCHS.
“You guys are well aware that for your education and for Middle College, you guys want someone that is well qualified to educate you guys because you want someone to educate you and you want someone to challenge you so you guys are able to get your associate’s degree and get your credits, especially to get your honors credit,” Villalpando said.
Though Villalpando knows she is leaving, she mentioned that the hardest part of doing so is having to say goodbye to her students.
“It always gets harder to say goodbye, ’cause I’ve never been in a situation where I get to see my students grow when I’m at a school. I’ve always got to see them grow from afar, but never when I’m at the school,” Villapando said.
While it is hard for Villapando to say goodbye, many of her students struggle with it as well.
“Many students had a hard time accepting me leaving. Many students are worried, and it’s tough, and I have to remind them that it’s not like I’m moving out of state, but it feels like that to them,” Villalpando said.
For this reason, Villalpando created a teacher Instagram account so that students can see how she is doing and contact her if they need to. She has also decided to do something else to help calm the nerves of students who are frustrated that she is leaving.
“That’s why this year, because I’m moving, I’m actually giving away a lot of my things to my students, to soften that departure,” Villalpando said.
A previous student of Villalpando, who is now a sophomore, Diana Granados, mentioned that there are many students who are indeed worried about Villalpando’s departure from the school.
“I remember last year, a lot of students were worried for her because they were worried that she either wouldn’t come back, or that she wouldn’t be able to find a job in another school or district. And I think that this year, I could see that the students still have those types of feelings, ’cause now the kids who are attached to her are both the freshmen, the sophomores, and the juniors,” Granados said.
Granados greatly appreciates Villalpando, especially due to the fact that she has been someone she could rely on when dealing with a lot of stress, often offering her good advice to help her overcome it.
“I feel like there was this one time where I was talking to her about feeling a lot of pressure to do good in school, and what she told me was that she was proud of me no matter what. She wanted me to just be me instead of focusing on all these other things because those other things didn’t define me as a person,” Granados said.
On top of that, Villalpando holds a very special place in Granados’ heart, mentioning how she is a teacher that many can also rely on whenever they need to.
“I feel like she’s one of the best teachers that I’ve had because she doesn’t just teach a class. I feel like she’s just always there for the students. I feel like it’s really telling that a lot of students can go to her for a safe space,” Granados said.
Another student who is aware of Villalpando’s departure is Kaitlyn Vu, a sophomore at MCHS, also stated that Villalpando has helped her out as well.
“She helped me a lot with my extracurriculars, you know, and having her as my first teacher in AVID, I think it helped me a lot too,” Vu said.
Vu also stated that Villalpando had given her good advice when she had her as a teacher for AVID during her freshman year.
“She’s a good teacher ’cause she’s honest with you, and she gives me good advice,” Vu said.
