On the first day of school, three teachers joined the MacArthur faculty: Mrs. Heather Rigby, Mrs. Krystal Darrow, and Ms. Zyania Lizarraga.  They replaced Ms. Janelle Nagle, Mr. Tanilo Ponce, and Mrs. Fabiola Thahab, respectively.

“I heard great things about MacArthur and wanted to be part of those great things,” said Rigby

Rigby teaches seventh-grade language arts and sixth-grade AVID and can be found in room 10, Lizarraga joins the Special Education department and can be found in room 11, and Darrow teaches eighth-grade social studies in room 13.

“A couple of things I like about Mrs. Rigby’s class is she is really kind, gets along with the students, and how we get on our Chromebooks and learn,” said seventh-grader Karissa Garcia 

Rigby taught last year at Willard Intermediate, Lizarraga taught at Greenville Fundamental Elementary, and Darrow taught at Spurgeon Intermediate, now called Romero Cruz Academy. 

Darrow had previous experience at MacArthur, both as a student and a student teacher.  “I like working at my old middle school, and I also like working with the teachers and students because they are all friendly,” said Darrow.  

All three teachers remained in the same departments, but this is Lizarraga’s first year as a full-time teacher.  Last year, she completed her student teaching at Greenville.

“What I like about Mrs. Lizarraga is that we get to finish our homework and we get help if we need it,” said eighth-grader Kalani Gonzales.

All teachers have high expectations for their students.  Like Darrow said, “I expect them to always try their best, to ask questions, to be involved and engaged in learning as tigers.”

Eighth-grader Mia Perez said,  “I like how Mrs. Darrow teaches and how the whole lesson is set up and easy to follow.”