Former student takes reins of English Department.
By: Melissa Hayes
The school district appointed a familiar face and district graduate to the position of South Brunswick High School English supervisor, Monday.
"I think it’s going to work out well because I do have a sense of where South Brunswick has been but I also have a pretty clear sense of where we need to go in our continued growth," said April Gonzalez, a Burlington resident.
Ms. Gonzalez has been an English teacher at the high school since 1990.
She graduated from SBHS in 1982 and went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in English and psychology from Montclair State University in 1986. She began substitute teaching in the district in 1984 and went on to student teach here in 1986. Ms. Gonzalez also has a master’s in teaching from Marygrove College in Detroit.
Ms. Gonzalez covered a high school teacher’s sick leave from 1987 to 1988 then took time off to have a family.
In 1990 she was called back to fill in for another teacher and has been with the high school ever since.
"Aside from wanting to give back to the community that I grew up in, I have teachers, and I would say all along the way but especially in high school when I started to focus my interests more, that were just absolutely influential," she said.
Ms. Gonzalez said when she went to college she knew she wanted to be a teacher, but hadn’t decided on the subject so she majored in English and psychology. She did know, however, that she wanted to have an impact on students as much as her teachers had influenced her.
"I was so influenced by my high school teachers, I said, ‘OK, when I’m a teacher, I want to take that from this teacher and this from that teacher,’ and I probably very early on pieced together what a teacher looks like based on what I had," she said.
She remembers starting out as a young teacher at the high school with several mentors.
"I had all of these mother birds and father birds kind of taking me under their wings," she said. "I learned from the best."
Ms. Gonzalez said a lot of mentoring took place when the high school was smaller. That mentoring now has to become more formalized and department specific because of the school’s growth.
Because she learned so much from her mentors, Ms. Gonzalez decided to become one. She has been mentoring new teachers in the district since 1996.
Over the years, Ms. Gonzalez has taught English at every grade level in the high school and at every level of ability in each grade.
Ms. Gonzalez said that it’s important for teachers to continue learning over the years to set the tone for their students.
"Things are always changing, always evolving and you just have to keep growing," she said. "You’ve got to meet the needs of those kids and they change."
She is taking night classes at The College of New Jersey to receive her supervisor’s certification. She has been working on it for a year and will graduate in August.
"It kind of evolved. I finished out my master’s degree last year. My whole career, I have four boys but I still managed to keep teaching and keep learning," she said. "I had in the back of my mind that I would like to get my supervisor’s certificate because you never know. Then my supervisor said she was getting ready to retire and how soon could I get that certificate."
Ms. Gonzalez is taking over for Barbara King-Shaver, who will retire this year. She will earn $81,500 annually.