Mr. William Reuch, the founder of Shalhevet’s Civics course, social studies teacher and Model Congress advisor, is leaving Shalhevet after 11 years, taking a step back from classroom teaching to launch an online education platform and spend more time with his family.
Starting last year, Mr. Reusch had reduced his teaching hours and taught only Civics and Gov and Econ. In past years he also taught U.S. History and American Literature. In addition to leading Model Congress, he also founded and led the Grappling Club.
He announced his departure on Schoology Feb. 21.
“The encouragement and support from all of you (and your older siblings/friends) have led me to a place where I want to explore new entrepreneurial challenges within education,” wrote Mr. Reusch in his post.
He said he hopes to reach more people by starting an online school supplement for kids who enrolled in regular and home schools.
“Like Gandhi says, ‘Be the change you want to see in the world,’” Mr. Reusch said in an interview.
“I wish the education system was better. I wish I could teach more kids…I want to teach as many as I can possible and this, through tech and online resources and stuff like that, I think it’s a way to try and do that.”
His online school will not be Mr. Reusch’s first foray onto the internet. He runs an active Instagram account, @willreusch (also see related story),
His decision to leave Shalhevet was not easy, he said.
“I love Shalhevet – I wouldn’t be leaving,” Mr. Reusch said. “I have been getting such encouraging feedback throughout my whole career. If I wouldn’t do it now, I’m just going to stay here because I love this place.”
“I have cherished every lunch meeting, guys’ lunch, Model Congress trip, and class discussion,” Mr. Reusch wrote in his Schoology post. “I am also profoundly grateful to the administration for supporting my dreams in the way they have over the years.”
Alumnus Mitchell Hoenig ‘20 said that Mr. Reusch was a so successful because of the way he built relationships with his students.
“He was a very active teacher,” said Mitchell, who was the student leader of the Grappling club.
“He sat down with every single student to build a personal connection, where he therefore was able to understand each student’s needs in and out of school. My love for jujitsu was cultivated by Mr. Reusch.”
Mitchell, who is now a pre-med student at Ariel University in Israel after completing his IDF service, said he has remembered much of what Mr. Reusch taught.
“I remember pretty much his entire U.S. History course,” he said. “And it’s not because I have a good memory. It’s just because the way he taught it was so interactive and so amusing, that the information and the lessons learned from the history I find myself applying it all the time.”
Datya Kurzban, current senior, said Mr. Reusch’s class re-shaped parts of her thinking.
“He impacted my life by just giving us moral foundations and guidelines on how to live,” said Datya.
“He let us all talk in class and share our opinions, no matter on what they were,” she said. “He never disagreed with us, but fought and challenged us to expand more on what we thought.”
Mr Reusch came to Shalhevet after teaching at public and charter schools in different parts of Los Angeles.
The difference between those schools and Shalhevet was palpable according to Mr. Reusch, and the community was the most enjoyable and memorable part about Shalhevet.
“When you’ve taught in other communities,” he said “or you lived in other communities, you come into this one, and it’s so just supportive, and loving and friendly,”
He was the founder of Shalhevet’s Civics course and wrote the curriculum after General Studies Principal Mr. Daniel Weslow offered him the opportunity to do so in 2018 and he realized that students would benefit from it. He started to officially teach the class in the fall of 2019.
Mr. Reusch said he hopes students who graduate from his classes live life without being on “autopilot.”
“Just less of, just, ‘I’m gonna go to this school, and then get this job and do this job, just because everyone else is doing it,’” Mr. Reusch said. “But actually critically thinking about every decision they make, questioning themselves, looking at the world weighing things out…
“I want them to get rid of a glassy look in their eyes and actually pay attention to the world,” he said.
Mr. Reusch has three sons, ages nine, seven and two. He and his wife live in Chatsworth, which he said is about an hour and 20 minutes away in the morning, so the change will also eliminate a long commute.
“It’s a long day when I have these little kids that I’m trying to really connect with,” he said. “And even though it was only four days a week… if I have the opportunity to spend more time with them, I’m gonna try and do it.”
In his farewell message, Mr. Reusch said he hopes everyone appreciates the situation that they’re in.
“Recognize how fortunate you are to be in this wonderful, wonderful place,” he said. “It’s a really special institution. I believe that I’ll stand by that for the rest of my life.”
