Mr. Bialasik Becomes Assistant Principal: The Case of the Missing Math Teachers
Earlier this year, one of the Assistant Principals at Sweet Home High School, Mr. Dimitroff, left his position to become the Principal at Lackawanna High School. He is being temporarily replaced by a TOSA, or a Teacher on Special Assignment (Sounds like some sort of spy thing). The subject of this acronym is Mr. James Bialasik. Changing scenes from a math teacher to a formidable administrator, this job has presented Mr. Bialasik with several new responsibilities to face.
Mr. Bialasik has always considered becoming a school administrator, so the rest of this year could be classified as a trial run for him. “I was presented with the opportunity and knew I just had to jump in with two feet,” he said. He now works directly with all students whose last names begin with the letters, A through C. Mr. Bialasik feels that although he is not teaching mathematics anymore, he is still teaching. “I’m teaching something different now,” he said. “Something more overt.” Disciplining students could fall under this category. Also, Mr. Bialasik helped set up the January and June Regents exam schedules and set up a district math team to improve math instruction in grades K though 12.
A point that Mr. Bialasik had to take into consideration when deciding on whether or not to accept this assignment was that he would be forced to leave all of his new students after only one marking period. These students had just become accustomed to his teaching style when he escaped to the Assistant Principal’s office. “I would not have done it if I had not been 100% sure that my students would be in good hands,” he said. “I’m not worried about them.” However, current Sweet Home juniors involved in the honors math circuit are beginning to sense a pattern. Every single math teacher these students have ever had since freshman year have left for a long period of time for one reason or another. Freshman year it was Mrs. Giufre, sophomore year it was Mrs. Yagielski, and finally Mr. Bialasik this year. “We’re sick of all our math teachers leaving!” ranted an anonymous junior. Mr. Bialasik and his old students now have new challenges to face, but I’m sure they will both overcome them in time.
Chukwudi, better known as Chudy, has been Editor-in-Chief since his sophomore year and has worked on the newspaper since his freshman year. His main focus is editing of articles, social media, and managing the website.