Students have a high standard for the quality of our teachers, and we expect them to go above and beyond for the students. But some teachers give new meaning to the phrase “above and beyond” by teaching more classes than a full-time job would require.

This school year, several teachers at PHS are teaching 120 percent, six classes rather than the standard five sections.

“We had some resignations in the middle of the year for family and personal reasons,” assistant principal Eric Mapes said. “The [current] teachers really stepped up. I commend all of them. They all took on a ton of extra work, really for the students.”

After the resignations of math teachers Edmund Mahoney last year and Lisa Holmes this school year, the math department needed teachers, including Diana Miller, Michael Stewart, and John Hayden, to take on extra sections, Mapes said.

“It would have been difficult to hire a full time math teacher in the middle of the year who knew the curriculum, knew the students, knew the department, and knew this school,” Mapes said. “The transition would have been an uphill climb.”

It was easier for the department to work cohesively if a couple teachers took on extra classes, rather than hiring a new part-time teacher who was new to everything, Mapes said.

“It’s important to be a team when you’re teaching the same course, so if you have one person who’s barely at school, it’s really hard to have that unity,” Mapes said.

The administration does hope to hire new teachers in order to relieve those who are at 1.2 schedule capacity, Mapes said.

“We will do our best to fill all the positions that have opened up, between now and the beginning of the school year,” Mapes said.

Another reason that classes sometimes outnumber teachers is because of course registrations, said chemistry and life science teacher John Savage.

“Because we’re a relatively small school, five or ten or fifteen kids signing up differently than in years past can shift it,” Savage said.

Savage said that because he is not married and does not have kids, he is more flexible in his ability to take on another class. However, it does still come with difficulties.

“The challenges are manyfold,” Savage said. “You lose four hours a week of planning time that gets consumed by teaching time, and your workload increases as well because you have more students.”

The additional 25 or so students bring with them 25 more units of work for the teacher.

“You have more papers to grade, you have less time to do it,” Savage said. “You have more grades to input, more letters of recommendation to write, more students coming in at tutorial, and more parents who want to meet; it all adds up.”

Math teacher Amy Dunn-Ruiz said she took on six classes last school year, while this year she is back to five.

“When I taught it, I had three different courses, one of which was brand new to me,” Dunn-Ruiz said. “That was an extraordinary strain on my time, and very stressful.”

Savage said that the additional period had an effect on not only his time, but his teaching.

“It takes a toll on teaching,” Savage said. “I don’t think I’m doing as good of a job as I could do.”

But having an extra class is not just a burden. It is also a pleasure, Savage said.

“It’s a greater opportunity for me to share my passion of what I do with more kids,” Savage said. “I’m a teacher because I enjoy teaching and I enjoy the sciences. I can share what I’m excited about with other people.”

The incentives for taking on an extra class also include extra compensation, proportionate to the amount of additional work the teachers must do, Savage said.

“I did it partially out of concern for the classes being covered, and partially because it meant I would earn more money, and that is useful,” Dunn-Ruiz said.

Mapes said the teachers take on this workload out of dedication to their students.

“I just want the students and the community to know that the number one priority of the staff at this school is the students,” Mapes said.