This year, Saratoga has been unusually yet fortunately fertile; many teachers are now raising new children in their infant stages.

Guidance counselor Frances Saiki, English teacher Natasha Ritchie and math teacher Jennifer Mantle have all returned from their maternity leaves earlier this year. With the arrival of spring, three more teachers have been added to their ranks: Chinese teacher Sara Tseng, English teacher Suzanne Herzman and special education teacher Terra Vitarelli.

Tseng returned from maternity leave April 18, after having her third child. The baby girl, named Molly, was born on March 9.

“We all feel excited about the baby,” said Tseng, “especially my other two kids.”

Substitute Jung-Fei Lin had been filling in for Tseng’s multiple Chinese classes until she returned from leave. While she was gone, Tseng had been using Google Docs and Google Groups to communicate with her students.

“We used it to share projects with our groups and to check what homework was assigned,” said junior Justin Fang, who is taking Chinese with Tseng. “It worked well.”

Herzman is also expected to have her baby sometime soon and will be out for the remainder of the school year.

“I feel confident that my students will be in good hands, and that the transition will be smooth,” said Herzman.
Substitute Amber Ashby will be Herzman’s replacement for the remainder of the school year.
Vitarelli has also been out since the start of February Break after the birth of her baby boy, Andrew Luca, on March 2. She will return in fall for the new school year.