For the 2025-2026 Macarthur school year, Principal Ray Gonzales hired 10 new teachers to take the available positions. The new teachers include Ms. Stephanie Castro, Mrs. Julie Doan, Ms. Courtnee Kleidon, Ms. Jean Kim, Mr. James Grinde, Mr. Jesse Barr, Ms. Niza Metoyer, Ms. Marlene Aguilar, and Ms. Stephanie Aros, who filled in the open positions from layoffs, retirements, and resignations.
Math teacher Julie Doan said, “I was transferred here. I’m very excited, my students are very energetic, and it’s pretty amazing. It’s a lot bigger than my last school, which was a high school.”
Four of the ten openings were from retirements, three were from layoffs or displacements, and three were from resignations or voluntary transfers.
Sixth-grader Oliver R. expressed what he thought was the best part about having a new teacher. He said, “The best part about Mr. Grinde is that he is nice and fun. Something new I learned was some new math skills. A lesson I will remember is ratios.”
When a position is available, firstly, what happens is that the job is made available to teachers at the site. This means that if a teacher in the school wants to switch subjects, then they have the opportunity to do so. Within the district, if a teacher from another school wants to apply for the position, they could. If that doesn’t work out, then the open spot is available for people outside the district. The process for the people outside the district is closer to a traditional job application and interview process.
“The best part about having a new teacher is that they are different from the other teachers,” said seventh-grader Vanessa M. “Something I learned from my new teacher is unit rate. A lesson I will remember is a game she taught us called Zonk.”
Over the past 20 years, the Santa Ana Unified School District’s population has reduced by about thirty to forty percent. Previously, the district had about 55,000 students or so. However, recently, the estimation of students still attending schools in Santa Ana has dreopped below 40,000 students. Due to this, since there were fewer students, there were fewer teachers. The district may continue to cut more teachers as the number of students decreases.