Five staff members, four teachers and one administrator, Dominique Banner, Christopher Raguindin, Judith Saldanha, Bruce Sawyer, and Wayne Thallander, will be leaving the Tracy High staff at the end of the 2016 school year.

Special education teacher Saldanha and English teacher Thallander will be retiring while math teacher Banner, English teacher Raguindin, and assistant principal Sawyer will be leaving for other jobs.

Saldanha thinks of the staff as being her favorite part of teaching at Tracy.

“Leaving this school after teaching here for so long is a struggle for me, since the students and staff have been a major part of my teaching,” Saldanha said. “The staff are the ones who I felt the closest to, as they helped me when I was just beginning my career. I hope that the teachers continue forward in their teaching.”

Thallander has been working at this school for 37 years, as an English teacher and newspaper adviser.

“Tracy High has been the best place to teach,” Thallander said. “I could not imagine teaching at any other school. I have been richly blessed.”

Sawyer is leaving to be principal at Central Catholic High School in Modesto. He has been at Tracy High in multiple positions. He began as a social science teacher, then went to West High as an assistant principal, before returning to Tracy High as an assistant principal.

“This school hasn’t changed that much from when I was history teacher. I think that I’m going to miss is just the friendly atmosphere from both students and staff,” Sawyer said. “

Banner feels she will miss her math students and her diving team the most.

“I began working here very early in my career as a teacher, mainly with just teaching math,” Banner said. “The idea of coaching the diving team seemed surprising to me when it was mentioned, but it has completely paid off. Teaching these students and seeing them win in their competitions is my favorite part about being a coach.”

Raguindin will be heading back to his home in Hawaii, but he remembers the students he taught these past two years.

“I felt like a really related to the students that I taught. They were very supportive with helping me get into my role, and really helped my transition when I came from Hawaii,” Raguindin said.