With the recent retirement of Mr. Partridge those in charge of hiring a new teacher, Dr. Staub, Mrs. Corris, Dr. Sofo and the administration, will be at it again to find a replacement. While most jobs only arrange one or two interviews in order to decide on a new employee, teaching candidates have to undergo a timely interview process that differs from a traditional interview. The very first step of hiring a prospective teacher is reading over numerous submitted resumes and making sure that both the certification and training requirements are met. Once all the resumes have been carefully reviewed by Dr. Staub, those who are chosen for their first interview are contacted. “Teaching jobs are scarce. I remember reading 50 to 75 [resumes] and having to narrow down to a dozen,” Dr. Staub said. During the first interview, candidates are reviewed by both Mrs. Corris and Dr. Staub. While those administrating the interview are concerned with both the qualifications and potential of the applicant, Dr. Staub and Mrs. Corris keep in mind if “they are a fit for this high school,” Dr. Staub said. Depending on how the candidate fits with the school is a large deciding factor in whether or not he or she will be hired. Freedom’s method of teaching differs greatly from most high schools because of how the school is primarily “student-centered”, Dr. Staub said. Freedom High School also differs from the norm with the recently implemented grandeur of new technology. At each interview, Dr.Staub says, “I believe that effective teachers are a certain kind of people.” From there, he asks what the candidates think he means. “I don’t want canned answers. [Teachers] really are a certain type of people,” Dr. Staub said. Once the first round of interviews is over, the number of applicants downsizes yet again from 12 to two or three. At this point, the applicants are given the task of creating a lesson plan based on the block scheduling to teach to a class. The direction of the topic must be related to the course they would be teaching. Aside from teaching a lesson from within the said course, those in charge give the applicant a topic to cover. How the prospective teacher handles the lesson is up to them. The applicant then teaches the prepared lesson to a class full of chosen students. Teachers from the department that the applicant is applying for are also there to oversee the lesson. Once the lesson has ended, both students and teachers have the opportunity to ask questions. “I was asked to prepare a 20 minute segment of an 84 minute block. I had to plan out the entire block, and then also focus on the best 20 minutes, almost,” Mr. Fitzpatrick said. “The whole 84 [minutes] had to look impressive because I knew that Freedom valued technology, and because I wanted to show that I was adept. I wanted to utilize as many instructional strategies as possible,” Mr. Fitzpatrick said of his interview. They continue on to an interview with the superintendent, Dr. Sofo. “We usually get it right by the time we get there,” Dr. Staub said. “Finding the right person to work with our kids in the classroom is the most important thing that we do,” Dr. Staub said.