Contact Christa Erolin, Forrest Griek, and Steven Deaderick and your principals TODAY! to help them understand the advantages of beginning the school year with the students we know and will continue to serve as instructional models change. Decisions are being made quickly, so get this important information to the decision-makers in time to be a part of this year's plan.

If you receive a reply, please share it with tacomaspecialists@gmail.com to keep everyone informed of developments.

An example:

Dear Christa,

I have been the Physical Education specialist at Lowell Elementary School (.8-FTE) for several years and for the upcoming school year I will be deployed at Lowell (.6-FTE) and Fawcett Elementary (.4-FTE). It was disappointing to hear that we will be starting the school year with online learning. I know you agree that kids need to be in school for face to face learning not only for academic reasons, but also social and emotional reasons.

I have always believed that learning is more successful when the teacher develops a relationship with their students. Building relationships and getting to know my students allows me to determine what it takes to motivate them, how to diffuse and reset them when they are upset, how hard to push them physically in PE, and how to modify their activities because I know their health concerns. My concern is if I am assigned a school other than Lowell, then I will have no relationship with the students at that school, which I believe will impact student learning. The isolation that students have experienced the last 6 months has affected them socially, emotionally, and academically.

Because I have taught at Lowell for several years the students know my expectations of them, they know I want the best for them, and that I will do whatever it takes so their activity skills and fitness levels improve, and they have the knowledge to make healthy choices. Most of all, they trust me and are engaged in learning because I have taken the time to build relationships with them.

Anything that the district can do to make the online experience for students comfortable, positive, and engaging will go a long way towards maximizing student learning. If you can keep specialists in the building they were assigned to for the 2019/2020 school year it will go along way to providing positive learning experience for our students.

Christa, I know you have much on your professional plate right now, and I appreciate you listening to my concerns.

Sincerely,

Steve Johnson, PE, Health and Fitness Specialist

Lowell Elementary

As we approach the first day of school for 2020-21, I am faced with the prospect of being one of three music teachers in my second school. Each of us will be there for one day. Students will have no continuity and this placement will further our identification as “other”. We are not the only school faced with multiple specialists filling one position that is 1.0 or less. Sharing programs comes at the detriment of everyone involved – students AND staff (the entire building staff, not just the specialists involved.) If Tacoma Schools want to be truthful in their motto of

they need to support one teacher in one position all week long.

--Stephanie Menefee, Music Specialist

We are all familiar with the phrase, “Out of sight, out of mind”. The Specialist Advocacy Council has identified specialist concerns regarding safety, quality, and equity. TEA’s job is to advocate for Tacoma teachers during contract bargaining and throughout the year.

We are currently 'out of sight' regarding specialist representation on TEA. The formula for representation on TEA’s Representative Assembly(RA) is 1 rep. per 10 teaching staff. Given the formula, there should be 75 reps for elementary schools on TEA/RA. To the best of our knowledge only one specialist (1.3% of total reps) is on TEA/RA. Specialists make-up 12% of the total number of elementary school teachers, therefore we should have 9 reps on TEA/RA. That number would put us in plain sight and strengthen our voice so our concerns are heard and addressed. It is our job to educate TEA and fellow representatives as to the concerns we have as specialists and how it impacts our students’ academic, social, and emotional growth. If we remain out of sight, we will be out of TEA’s mind, and how will that benefit us?

Staffing levels are inequitable within buildings and across the district.

Click below to see how your school and schools across the district will be impacted. Current as of 7/23