After nearly 22 years of teaching Spanish at Claremont High School, Señor Ancona will be leaving at the end of this semester. He will be taking up a position as the assistant principal for Silverado High School in Victorville. This position will primarily have Ancona overseeing discipline and special education at Victorville. Despite teaching Spanish for over two-decades, Ancona is confident and ready for a change of pace in career that will see him speaking more in English than in Spanish.
“I don’t think it will be strange,” Ancona said. “What will be a little bit new to me is not interacting with students on a daily basis, and obviously being on a campus as a new person for the first time in twenty years.”
In the wake of his coming absence and an ongoing sub crisis , the school has opted not to hire a new teacher or work out any sort of long term sub plan. Instead, Ancona’s students can expect their classes to stay the same except it will by another Spanish teacher who is already working at CHS.
Although Ancona is eager to take up the new position at Silverado, it was not an easy decision for him to make. There is a lot about Claremont that Ancona is going to miss.
“A lot of people think I’m excited and this move is easy, but it really is not as easy as people think,” Ancona said.
Despite the difficulties with starting again in a new environment, his positive impact at CHS is evidence that he will do great in Victorville. And Ancona had a couple of parting pieces of advice for the students at CHS.
“I think the students at Claremont need to realize that they’re very blessed to be at a place like Claremont High School, where the teachers care and where there’s a high standard for academic achievement,” Ancona said. “And one thing I’ve learned is that anytime I thought I actually failed at something, I learned that you only fail if you quit.”