Former Chapel Hill High teacher prepares for move

Bert Wartski spent Tuesday unpacking 19 years of teaching materials as he moved out of Chapel Hill High School and into his new classroom at East Chapel Hill High School.

Wartski, an AP biology teacher, is one of two teachers being transferred from CHHS for the coming school year. Anne Thompson, who taught Honors English, will be transferred to Carrboro High School.

On Monday, an Orange County judge denied the teachers’ requests to stay at CHHS.

Wartski said he met with Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Superintendent Tom Forcella in June and was told he was being transferred.

Forcella said he decided to transfer the teachers to address what he described as a negative culture at the school, according to a letter sent to Chapel Hill High School faculty and staff.

But Wartski disagreed.

“We did our job,” Wartski said. “We taught our students. I wouldn’t consider that toxic.”

Forcella could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The decision has been controversial among many of the school’s teachers and students.

“Being in his classes is one of those things that you can’t really explain, but you have to experience,” said senior Alexa Young, who took Wartski’s AP biology class last year.

“I learned more from him than I ever thought possible.”

Young said she and her classmates were shocked by the decision.

But Wartski said he has already been welcomed by the faculty and administration at East Chapel Hill High.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to go to East. I just didn’t want to leave the place that I’ve called home for the last 19 years.”

Many of Wartski’s former students echoed this sentiment.

“It’s just really sad for the school to be losing one of its best faculty members,” said Violette Zhu, now a sophomore at UNC. “He’s part of the Chapel Hill experience.”

Zhu took Wartski’s AP biology class during the 2008-09 school year. She remembers him for his creative lessons and tests, one of which asked students to solve a murder mystery using skills from their genetics unit.

“He is very outspoken about things, but I feel like that should be valued in the educational system because through dissent you can come up with innovative solutions,” she said.

But some students and administrators were not surprised by Forcella’s decision.

Morgan Grobin, who took Wartski’s class in 2009 as a junior, said she wonders why it didn’t happen sooner.

“He was very successful in helping us memorize the material, but he acted immaturely at times and was rude,” she said.

Grobin said she thought Wartski’s attitude took away from the class atmosphere. But she doesn’t think the transfer will solve any problems, and that it will only make teachers angry.

Wartski said he will not appeal the judge’s decision because he doesn’t want to disrupt students during the school year.

When school starts next week, Wartski will teach AP environmental science at ECHHS.