This year, FHS gained a new vice principal, math teacher, social studies teacher, and Latin/math teacher. Read on to meet the new staff!

Michael Flood – Math Department

“It was an awesome place to work then and I think it’s an awesome place to work now.” 

Michael Flood is back after 5 years at Louisville Middle School as a vice principal. Flood took a little respite after teaching at Fairview for 13 years. This year he’s back working in Fairview’s math department. He speaks of his time at Fairview during his teaching journey fondly and is happy to be back.

“Fairview is an excellent school. It’s the school I wanted to be at,” he said.

“I first decided I wanted to be a teacher, probably like, halfway through college,” Flood said. He had not started in education, and given that none of his family was, it took him some time to decide on the career path. Going to college at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, he switched his major to education and began teaching math and social studies. 

Flood came back to Fairview because he missed how much everyone on the staff supported and collaborated. He also missed the students because of their hardworking demeanor and undying curiosity. 

Despite thinking of teaching middle school, once Flood began at Fairview he made up his mind that he would rather teach high school. Fairview has him coming back for more. 

Marisa Anderson – Vice Principal

Marisa Anderson came to Fairview this summer as a new vice principal and will oversee standardized testing this year. She says, “Hopefully [testing] will go seamlessly for all of you guys because I know it can be a stressful time.”

Though she is still learning the systems in BVSD, her education history dates back to early childhood.

“My mom founded a school so I was kind of like, always involved,” Anderson said. “I was always around educators and administrators and so I don’t know, maybe it’s just in my blood.” 

Right out of college, she began working at a school. Her first job in education was as a special education paraeducator which led her to realize how much she wanted to be in education. 

Her last job was as dean of students at Legacy High School in Broomfield, although she grew up in San Diego. “I do just love the atmosphere and the vibe of the beach. It draws me. It’s calming. I love sunrises and sunsets at the beach, but my family loves to camp and go off-roading, and so being in the mountains here has been really great,” she said. 

Though Anderson is still adjusting to Fairview, her outlook on the school has been very positive. “I’m kind of impressed with how friendly and inclusive everyone’s been so far… I’m really passionate about making those connections and helping out as best I can.”

Lindsay Walker – Social Studies

Lindsay Walker is new to Fairview this year as a social studies teacher and is ready to bring her diverse experiences to Fairview. She has worked in four different schools in as many different places and loves sewing and social studies. She even has a degree in fashion since she took classes from many different colleges in California including Grand Canyon University where she got her teaching credentials. 

“The only other thing I would probably teach would be sewing because I think that’s just a really cool thing to have but otherwise, yes, social studies is all I will teach. I enjoy it too much,” Walker said. She is passionate about her subject and excited for her first year with Fairview students.

Right now she is still figuring out the school, but already enjoys the atmosphere. “You guys are respectful and like you want to learn and I haven’t had that at a lot of the schools that I’ve worked at,” said Walker. 

As for getting involved, Walker has already sponsored clubs such as GSA and sewing before that she would love to do here if people are interested next year, though for this year she is hanging back and only advising one club: the Chinese Culture Club.

“Being in a brand new school I just like being able to check all the different stuff out first so that’s kind of what my plan is this year is to check it all out see what there is and then get more involved probably next year… you guys have to deal with the whole school. I only have to deal with this wing right now. I will venture out eventually.” 

Getting the scope of the school and the students is important to her; though she plans to stay in her wing for the moment, there is no doubt she intends to be available for students to talk to.

“I’m always available if you guys have questions,” Walker said., “That’s why I teach […] I want to help you guys so I’m usually available way more than I should be.”

Victoria Kalman – World Language Latin/Math

“I have a lot of energy. I love being around people I would not want to work in like a windowless room by myself all day. So yeah I just kind of gave teaching a try.”

Victoria Kalman came to Fairview after teaching in the Lafayette K-12 school Dawson. She is still trying to get the hang of the building because this is a big step for her since Dawson is a small private school with only about 12 students in each class. After teaching Spanish at Dawson, she is teaching all of Fairview’s Latin classes as well as geometry this year. 

Kalman said, “I started studying Latin and Spanish in 5th grade. I loved them and just really just continued on in middle school, high school, college, grad school.” She never doubted her decision to pursue a career in world languages from the moment she was in her first class in 5th grade. However, she did have doubts about teaching. 

Kalman went to Williams College in Massachusetts for her undergraduate degree, then to Columbia University in New York for graduate school. She double majored in both Spanish and classics, Latin and Greek, where she then asked herself what was next. After getting language degrees she began thinking of career options. Her first plan didn’t involve teaching until after college.

“I guess I kinda thought I would give it a try ’cause I tutored,” she said, “I tutored in college a little bit and then figured why not see if I can do the full-time job.” In the end, all it took was tutoring some kids in college and she fell in love with teaching. After all, it was the best of both worlds. She wouldn’t be stuck in an office without any windows and could continue doing what she loved, working with languages. 

Kalman said, “I loved working with kids and helping them understand.”