As of 2025, more than ten percent of the teacher population at Lightridge High School has come from Willard Middle School. Many people believe that the process of Willard feeding into Lightridge only applies to students; however, as apparent through the numbers, it applies to teachers, too.
The hiring process for regular teachers begins when a position is open; after an offer is posted, Lightridge Principal Ryan Hitchman will review the candidates, set up interviews, and have background checks completed, which all leads to the hiring of a new teacher.
However, this process changes when the candidate is from Willard, thanks to the direct transfer process between LCPS schools.
“Teachers who are currently in LCPS have a window where they can say, ‘okay, I would like to apply to Lightridge High School’. They would then apply in what’s called the license transfer process window. And then I have a conversation with those teachers, and then if an opening occurs, then we can go ahead and we can hire that person,” explained Hitchman.
If teachers from Willard are already interested in a position, they get first pick before the job opening goes public once they are approved by the HR department. This explains why so many Lightridge teachers are from Willard; they get hired through this transfer process, grabbing jobs before non-LCPS teachers ever get a chance.
“I’ve always wanted to teach high school because I wanted to teach different content, so that is why I decided to come to high school.” said math teacher Betsy Porada, who now teaches several different levels of math after teaching mostly eighth graders at Willard.
Although she enjoyed teaching middle school, she wanted to teach at Lightridge instead of any other high school because it was fun to see her students have grown so much since she last taught them.
For Michelle Ehring, an English teacher, coming to Lightridge was more of a homecoming than the start of a new journey. She had taught ninth grade 20 years ago and returned because she missed not only the content but also the drive in high schoolers versus middle schoolers.
“Everything counts more than it does in middle school and kids know that, and so I think they’re more invested in their own success,” said Ehring.
Freshman Ahana Sarkar, who was taught by Ehring in sixth grade, was very excited when she saw Ehring’s name on her schedule again. Sarkar explained that as sixth graders, they were more like children, but as Ehring moved to high school she learned to deal with the students.
“We’ve changed as much as she has changed,” Sarkar finished.
For yet more teachers like Kathryn Johnson, they have always been teaching ninth graders, even at Willard. Johnson taught ninth grade English at Willard from 2018 to 2020, when it was an intermediate school.
“I really liked teaching ninth graders… and so when [Willard] transitioned to a middle school, they didn’t have a ninth grade anymore. So I came over to Lightridge to keep teaching high school,” Johnson said.
With so many teachers coming from Willard, and the numbers not expected to decrease anytime soon, Hitchman seems to have achieved his goal for Lightridge:
“I want to create a place… where teachers want to be,” said Hitchman. “Not a place they have to be.”
