As weeks passed by at the beginning of quarter three, students fed up with watching pointless videos contemplated switching out of Drafting I. However, after three substitutes and much confusion, the administration finally found a permanent drafting replacement, and Mike Williams is excited to become a part of the Free State family.
At the conclusion of last semester, drafting teacher Don Clancy decided to retire. Clancy’s departure from Free State left administration in a bind to find a new teacher. However, a former math teacher turned structural engineer, Williams retired from engineering last year and soon decided to go back to teaching.
“ I decided to retire a year ago but that was too boring so here I am,” Williams said.
Before Williams arrived, students had been left with substitutes who were ill-prepared to take over the drafting class, as a result the class ended up watching videos and having free days for the first two weeks of the semester.
“It pushed us back a lot,” sophomore Zoe Prather said. “Most of the subs that we had didn’t know what they were doing … And neither did we because it was Drafting I.”
The classes went through three substitutes in two weeks. Students were encouraged to stay in the class and promised that a permanent replacement was being found.

“The original plan was to hire a replacement and make sure that the students were able to take the courses they enrolled in,” Administrator Keith Jones said.
Jones said the first replacement option “decided his skill level was not where it needed to be to teach the courses” while the second “could not afford to quit his current job.” Williams, the third replacement, ended up being the best fit.
Starting late in the semester has been a challenge for Williams and his students.
“Its like hitting the ground running,” Williams said. “The kids are trying to catch up with the course, and I am trying to catch up with them.”
While Williams is frantically trying to catch up, he feels he is prepared to get the class back on track.
“I have the standards, and they (the students) tell me what we need to do to complete the course,” Williams said. “I am comfortable with that.”