TACOMA SPECIALISTS
Safety Quality Equity
ONE JOB ONE EDUCATOR
Hi, my name is Mike Caldwell and I teach at Crescent Heights Elementary and Delong Elementary. This is my 29th year of teaching and my first time teaching at two schools. As most of you know it’s a difficult time for us, students and parents during remote learning time. Everybody is working hard to do their best to for all involved to succeed. It does feel at times the deck is stacked against us. I miss being with the students. Tough to do “physical” education with students online. For me physical education is getting students to move, to play cooperative games, to learn life skills about maintaining a healthy body and to have fun playing sports. To make it even tougher is for our students to have more than one PE/Music teacher at a school. I have found at both schools that students love to be active. But it takes time to develop those relationships at school. I still have relationships at CHE but only half the school. I’m sad I don’t get to see the other half of the school. Same can be said for Delong. Replacing a legend like Gail Johnson can be tough but only seeing half the kids makes it tough to start a new program.
I feel I have created a successful program at CHE. I have long lasting friendships with my staff, parents and students. I know the parents CHE, since my own children went there. I love the community. I’ve been connected to this community since 1989 when I started coaching Boys’ and Girls’ Soccer. (I even teach some of the children of the players I coached at Stadium their kids.) So, coaching at Stadium and now Meeker and teaching at CHE I feel this is my community!! It feels like the district didn’t consider when they moved teachers all over the district. What effect it would have on our primary school. What each specialist means to their schools. Even now here in December specialists are shuffled around to other schools. Imagine the shock of being moved from your home school in the summer, in the fall or even in December because your told it’s a “numbers” thing even though the numbers at your school say your FTE is .8 or a 1.0. It feels like TPS is turning our profession into a job. Delong and Crescent Heights should both have just one teacher. At beginning of the school year FTE was 1.0 and .8 at the respective schools. But instead each have two teachers with two different programs. Is this really “What’s best for kids”? IDK ☹
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