Saying Goodbye to Our Teachers

Next fall, BASIS Independent Schools expects to open a campus in Dublin for Grades 6-10. At the same time, numerous teachers from BASIS Independent Fremont have chosen to transfer to BASIS Independent Dublin as part of the founding staff. Last year, both Ms. Apra and Dr. Min announced their departures from this school to be a part of the founding staff at BASIS Independent Dublin. A majority of these teachers have been at this school for many years, including Madame Laquidara, Ms. Covert, and Ms. Shahin, to name a few. The departure of these teachers begs the question, “What motivated so many beloved members of our staff to decide it was time to move on in their careers?”

For many teachers, it was not an easy decision, since they have been at this school for a long time, and are now used to the familiar faces and their place of work. Any change to that is a hard decision to make. For Madame Laquidara, the French teacher for this school since 2021, “It was a really difficult decision, and I have a lot of mixed feelings about it, but I figured it was a really good professional opportunity for me.”

Madame went on to specify how she wants to be able to work with a new group of students and build a community from the ground up by helping them have the type of love and affection and passion for learning as our students here do. Madame’s opinion is likely echoed across many other teachers who have declined to stay at this school; they love our community and how tight-knit it is, but they also want to build another community from the ground up.

During their time in this school, the teachers at this school have formed close connections with the students, connections difficult to let go of. Melody Zhang (10) has formed a close relationship with Madame Laquidara ever since joining her class in 7th grade. She has said that she is “saddened that her French teacher is leaving, because [she’s] known her since sixth grade.” She went on to specify that she “enjoys the subject a lot because of her, and she was able to help me see the love in the subject.” Ayush S. (10) offered a different perspective on the matter. “I would say that there are some teachers whose characteristics I will somewhat miss, but we're [also] going to get exposed to a different variety of teachers, which gives us experience with learning from different people.”

In other words, students like Ayush will definitely remember the teachers who are leaving, but look forward to the prospect of new staff joining.

On behalf of the entire BASIS Independent Fremont community, I would like to sincerely congratulate all the teachers transitioning to Dublin for their service to our community, and I am sure that BASIS Independent Dublin will get off to a great start because of them!