Welcome back to the chaos of high school! For some of us this means calling these packed hallways home again, and for some it means attending orientation and slowly falling into disorientation. Don’t be intimidated by the new school year: Ridge is in good hands!

MRHS has added an additional 720 freshmen this 2022-2023 school, reaching record numbers of 2800 students not seen since the early 2000’s. With the highest AP and state test scores in the Deer Valley district and our award-winning academic programs like DECA and BioScience, it is no surprise there are still a couple hundred students on the open enrollment waitlist.

Despite some classes with over 40 students present, assistant principal Paul Strauss is confident in Ridge to take on additional kids.

“Ridge is not way over capacity in what we can handle,” said Strauss.

Unfortunately, due to Arizona’s teacher shortage and increased enrollment, about 30% of our current teachers have given up a prep period to teach full schedules.

“Teachers normally have five classes and a prep period to plan, grade, set up canvas or make copies, etc., but we need more classes and don’t have the teachers to accommodate the needs,” Adam Korman, CTE and ELA teacher, said. “To be honest, I’m surprised it’s only 30% of the teaching staff, but five or six years ago I think it was only a handful of teachers who did this.”

According to Strauss, it’s not only the classroom that is being affected by shortages. 

“We are dramatically understaffed in our facilities and maintenance staff,” Strauss presented. “We have less than half of what is needed for a high school this large and so many of our teachers and our administrators are picking up the slack and helping to clean rooms, move furniture, fix things, and cleaning up after events.”

Ridge Student Government has always wiped down the cafeteria tables after 4th lunch, but now helps out the short handed staff by picking up half eaten food and remaining empty milk cartons left on the picnic tables. 

“The needs do not go away just because you do not have the staff,” Strauss said.

The Mountain Ridge community has pulled through the past few weeks since school started. Some clubs like DECA, NHS, and StuGo have already volunteered to clean up after home football games due to the lack of assistance. 

“Everybody has really stepped up to make sure these type of things do not impact our students and their experience here at Mountain Ridge,” Strauss expressed thankfully.