Tacoma Specialists
news & updates
July 2020 Vol. 3 View previous issues 1 2
Speak Up for SPECIALISTS

  "It is not our intention for specialists to travel from building to building, delivering face to face instruction. At this time, we plan to have specialists deliver instruction 100% online.

When we are able to return to a typical 5 day a week, full face to face model, we will revisit the Spring 2020 allocations/schedules and every effort will be made to reduce sharing/traveling, within the FTE allocations provided. A representative team of specialists will be asked to provide feedback for this work."
-Christa Erolin and Forrest Griek
July 21, 2020

We are very relieved to receive the above pledge that our immediate concerns for our safety from COVID-19 are being addressed and that we will have input regarding the changes in deployments. While we understand that this is an unprecedentedly busy summer, it would be more logical to address those changes prior to the beginning of the school year.

Beginning the year with the same students we will eventually have face to face will create better continuity of instruction and help to smooth the transition, maximizing efficiency. Planning to change students at a later date is planning to disregard what happens during distance learning and having to start over, redoing all the administrative work involved with the beginning of a school year and having to assess students who might have had a different teacher, then planning and (re)delivering instruction in a way that meets the new group's needs. This is not what's best for students or teachers.

The safety of our staff and students goes deeper than COVID-19. While this is an immediate threat, the systematic under-staffing of specialists is an ongoing one. This affects our health, both physical and mental.
We will continue to educate administrators on what is a reasonable workload for a specialist. Establishing an 8 class per day limit (6 on Wednesdays), will be a start. This will not only improve our long-term health and safety, but will allow for better quality of instruction and learning.
In the past 4 years, specialist staffing has significantly decreased, though enrollment has not changed.
Click below to see how your school and schools across the district will be impacted. Current as of 7/23
How You Can Help
A big Thank You to those who have contacted administrators and shared information on Social Media. Keep hitting send! Click the share buttons at the bottom of the page to share this newsletter on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
Contact your administrators, school board members, social media friends, local media, and talk it up with friends and colleagues. Here is a guide with TPS contact information and sample messages.
You're invited to share your concerns
"Please communicate your concerns directly to myself or Christa Erolin. It is important that labor issues are addressed through the proper channels that the Union and District have established. This insures that concerns are addressed in a timely manner and the communication from both the Union and the District are in alignment."
 
Please feel free to call or email me directly if you have any questions.
 
Though safety issues are in the beginning stages of resolution, Quality and Equity issues remain. We are hopeful that by working together we can improve learning for our students and working conditions for staff.
Healthy, Safe, Engaged are the watchwords for TPS's The Whole Educator. We sincerely hope that this goes beyond a logo and results in action. Here are the main outcomes we seek:
  • One Job - One Educator
  • Equity in Staffing
  • District Transparency

Though it seems some of the staffing choices will be revisited due to the pandemic, the question remains, "Why they were done at all?". The balance sheet seems to be all negatives. What could make undermining instruction and learning, demoralizing teachers, and creating further inequities for both students and staff worth it?
Know Your Contract
Specialist Staff Survey
We are gathering information on working conditions and possible contract violations for the 2019-20 school year to be sure that these do not recur. If you are a Music, PE, or Library specialist, please complete the survey if you haven't already.
Flawed Staffing Formula
The district has not done their homework on how many classes will fit into a school day.
Staffing levels are inequitable within buildings and across the district.
Flawed Staffing Formula
TPS uses a "school score" to determine need across the district. The score is determined using socio-economic factors, test scores, and various other indicators. Moving resources to where they are most needed makes sense. Is that what happened here?
*This document is dated 6/22/2020, but we are told it was used in making deployment decisions in May.
Instruction
Specialists and students are being set up to fail. Many teachers will be starting the school year doing distance lessons with students they have never met and who they might see once a week.
What's It Like to Be Special?
Devalued and Overworked
How Worsening Working Conditions Have Affected My Students and Me
- Margaret Ross
K-5 Music Specialist
Tacoma Public Schools

In my three years as an elementary music teacher in Tacoma, I have been responsible for teaching and grading 66 different classrooms, worked with 44 different classroom teachers, and (with no common planning time) co-taught with six different music specialists - two of whom did not have music education degrees or even teacher certification. Of the 66 classrooms I have taught, 44 of them have been entirely new students (22 classrooms were returning students at my home school). This means that so far I have had to learn the names of and try to build a meaningful relationship with 1100 students!
...Because of the stress of my schedule and worry about being unable to give every student my best, I was frequently sick during the 18-19 school year and had to use every day of leave I had - personal and family leave in addition to sick leave. How can Tacoma say they support the Whole Educator when they deploy us in ways which affect our health, the quality of our instruction, and the equity of educational opportunities across the district?
If you would like more information on how you can help advocate for our students and Music, PE and Library educators, please click to add yourself to our advocacy group.
A council representing PE, Music, and Library have been meeting to gather information, rally support and determine next steps for solving district-wide Safety, Quality and Equity issues for specialist programs, students, and staff.

Click below to join our mailing list and be kept in the loop as the situation evolves.
Your information will not be shared without your permission.
Please include your:
Name, Building ( any you have connections with), and Role (Staff Position, Parent, Citizen, Student)
Tacoma Specialists Advocacy Council
Krista Hitz - Library, Franklin
Maggie Ross - Music, Fernhill
Mary Letterman - Library, Geiger Montessori
Matt Wood - PE, Stafford
Megan Oberfield - Music, Browns Point
Meredith Knaupp - Library, McCarver
Paula Greuling - Music, Birney
Penny Cramer - Music, Sherman
Rhianna Bedient - PE, Whittier
Rod Huskey - Music, Boze
Roman Maunupau - Library, Lyon 
Roxane Hreha - Music, Whitman
Steve Johnson - PE, Lowell