Hello, Searcy! I’m Gayla Dagata (“Ms. D.”), and I’m so excited to join the Southwest Middle School family! It has been a years-long dream of mine to move here to be closer to my own family, and everything has finally come together to create the perfect opportunity to make that dream a reality this year!
I come from the far northern reaches of California (right at the Oregon border), in a historic gold-mining town, where we have lots of cattle ranches and alfalfa fields surrounded by plenty of forested snow-capped mountains, rivers, and lakes. It’s a small community, with values that are much like Searcy’s, so I feel right at home here.
I loved teaching fifth graders and kindergarteners there, and I’m really looking forward to teaching sixth grade math this year!
In my free time, I love spending time with my family, especially my two kids, my brother and sister, and all my nieces and nephews (including the honorary ones). I adore warm hugs, fuzzy animals, computers, good books, being creative, making music, watching fun movies, and going on adventures, and I think a math classroom is a magical place - right up there with Disneyland! If any of that sounds like you, we have a lot to talk about, and I look forward to getting to know you!! Let’s make this a fabulous year together!