May 3-7 marks Certificated Staff Appreciation Week (Teacher Appreciation) in Tahoma and throughout the country. We're grateful to be able to honor Tahoma's wonderful teachers and certificated staff members this week and all year long.

 

“The professional certificated staff of the Tahoma School District are second to none, and are deserving of celebration every week of the year,” Superintendent Mike Hanson said. “It has been said that trying times reveal character. The character of our staff has time and time again shown that they have an unrelenting focus on supporting our kids and making this a better place for them. We are blessed to be partners with them and our incredible classified staff on this journey.

On behalf of the Tahoma School Board, President Katrina Montgomery thanked Tahoma’s certificated staff for their tireless efforts on behalf of Tahoma students. “Our teachers have one of the most challenging and fulfilling jobs – literally shaping and changing lives. I continue to be amazed by the amount of effort and care our educators put into helping our students succeed in and out of the classroom, and this year was no exception.”  

“The 2020-21 school year has been hard on all of us in Tahoma, but our teaching staff has proven time and time again just what it means to be a part of the Tahoma community. This year has proven to be a true testament to their ingenuity, resilience, passion and strength as they navigated through unprecedented challenges,” Montgomery continued. “Our teaching staff had to transition from their normal teaching practice to remote learning and back again, setting up new lesson plans, devising and recording instructional videos, preparing material, and finding new ways to check in on and connect with their students and classroom families while navigating their own personal challenges presented by COVID-19. Thank you for being a pillar of strength and a shining example to all of us.”

For those who may not know the difference between certificated employees and classified employees, certificated employees include teachers, psychologists, counselors, behavioral intervention specialists, principals, administrators and a few other categories of employees. Classified employees perform a wide array of jobs to support teachers and students and include paraeducators, bus drivers, nutrition services, secretaries and other clerical positions, nurses, custodians, technology team members, EEP (childcare) and more. Tahoma's teachers and other certificated staff are represented by the Tahoma Education Association.

Today, we’re highlighting some of our most senior teachers and certificated staff from each building and department. Please join us this week in expressing appreciation for the teacher or certificated staff members who have made the biggest positive impact for your student or students.

If you missed our special edition highlighting classified staff in March, click here.

In the 35 years since Dale Lehman began teaching at Tahoma High School, he has traveled 32 times to the Ellensburg area with geology students for “Fire and Ice” field camp, studying an ancient lahar deposit.

Currently a teacher of CWU geology, AP environmental science and Biology with Earth Systems, in years past Lehman has also taught French, English and math.

“I enjoy working with teenagers,” he said. “It is satisfying to see them grow into responsible young people while they are at Tahoma. I also enjoy their energy and excitement!”

Teachers and staff at THS spend a lot of time supporting students -- academically and personally. It’s one of the reasons Lehman says he has stayed with Tahoma for so long. “I like to engage with students on a personal level to help them feel connected to the ‘Tahoma Family.’ I also spend a great deal of work helping them become academically responsible,” he said. This year, he is also mentoring several seniors for their STEP (Senior Transition Exit Plan) work. 

Lehman said he has many memories and has worked with some of his colleagues for more than 30 years. He said he appreciates the flexibility they have shown in the past year in particular, and their willingness to step up and get the job done. “I remember so many times feeling pride in the professionalism afforded to myself and to my colleagues by the school administration and by the district level administration,” he added.

When not at work, Lehman said he enjoys anything that takes him outside with his family, including hiking, kayaking, cycling, and backpacking.

Brian Higa has taught math for the Tahoma School District since September of 1984. If he is smiling at the end of a day of work, he says it is most likely because a student or students got excited about learning that day.

The Summit Trail Middle School teacher says he feels blessed to be able to contribute to Tahoma’s mission of supporting students as they prepare for their future.

For most of his time with Tahoma, he has taught at the middle school level, ranging from sixth grade math to geometry. For the past several years, he has primarily taught seventh grade math. He also coaches the STMS wrestling team and the sixth grade boys basketball morning program. Coaching has been a big part of Higa’s Tahoma life. He has in years past coached THS wrestling, middle school basketball, middle school slow pitch softball, sixth grade girls volleyball, sixth grade boys basketball and spent one year coaching ninth grade football.

One memorable moment came the year that Higa was inducted into the Washington Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame, and he had the opportunity to thank the Maple Valley community for all their support through the years. Higa recalled the culminating wrestling match of his career, which regional officials later referred to as “The Match” because of its high level of excitement, competition and razor-close score. The best part of that memory for Higa, though, was the huge, loud crowd of Tahoma wrestling fans who traveled to the away match at Fife and made it seem like a home match because of their enthusiastic cheering.

“Thank you Maple Valley, for that community support that was second to none,” Higa said in his acceptance speech. 

In his leisure time, he enjoys working on home projects & repairs, and reading science fantasy.

When Gary Conner graduated from college, he had characteristics and degrees that were in high demand, and found himself with five job offers. While visiting the Tacoma Job Fair in 1989, he saw “Tahoma” on the list and crossed it off, thinking it was a misprint. Luckily, before he could leave for the day, several then-administrators from Tahoma caught up with him and Conner ended up accepting a position with TSD.

He was hired initially to teach special education but was soon transferred to teach elementary P.E., where he stayed for six years before going on to teach junior high and high school. He currently teaches eighth-grade health and fitness and cross conditioning at Maple View Middle School. Additionally he led the boys and girls cross country and track programs for about 25 years, runs the weight room at Maple View and started a peer mentoring program with SAILS students and general education students.

“It’s kind of something that’s on my heart,” Conner said. The students are paired with a SAILS student for four weeks, and can read together, work on math together and eat lunch together. At the end of the four weeks, Conner brings in a new group of general education students. 

Often the most important lessons come when teachers and students put the focus on values such as respect, responsibility and integrity, he said. “I feel like there are a lot of connections when kids transfer a life lesson into their daily lives -- when things that have been thrown at them just kind of click. … That’s a big part of why I got into teaching -- those relationships.”

Conner said he has enjoyed watching Tahoma evolve from a smaller, 2A district to its current 4A status. “I’ve just watched Tahoma grow, and it’s been really cool,” Conner said. “I’m a ‘homesteader’ who has been here since Day 1, and I just love the blue and the gold.”

In cross country and track, the coaches and families believe that “you can help make everyone around you better,” whether competing in a sports event, in academic awards or in forming connections and helping others. That philosophy holds true at Maple View with his colleagues over the past year as well, Conner said. “I think it comes down to flexibility, grace and friendships.”

For example, he said that teaching remotely and via new methods helped him form a friendship with MVMS Future Ready Librarian Patty Stillmaker, who he might not have really crossed paths with before. “She has been there to help me every step of the way,” he said. “I feel like I’m a better person because of it.”

When he isn’t teaching, Conner said he enjoys spending time at his second house in Crescent Bar, and enjoying family time with his wife and kids.

Thirty-one years’ worth of Tahoma students have had the pleasure of learning from Meribeth Rowe, who spent 27 years teaching at Lake Wilderness Elementary and the past four years at Cedar River Elementary. Rowe also taught first grade for four years in Bellingham before joining the Tahoma School District.

“I really love being present when children have those ‘Ah-ha’ moments in learning. I giggle at the way kids spell unfamiliar words and share their personal family adventures and individual successes,” Rowe said. “Kids that reveal their love of learning continue to fuel my desire for teaching. Equally important, I have worked with some of the most dedicated, hard-working and supportive colleagues over the years.”

In addition to enjoying students’ “Aha” moments in third and fourth grade in Tahoma, she has also served as a science lead, math lead, ELA lead, a TEA representative and an ELL cluster teacher through the years.

“I am proud to be a part of each child’s journey in the Tahoma School District,” Rowe said. “I am simply amazed by the resiliency of my colleagues who continue to make a difference for their students every day!”

During her time at Lake Wilderness Elementary, she led a Zero Hour Gardening Club, where students worked with the Arboretum to learn about plants. They helped in the developing stages of the trail featuring plants used by the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest.

When she is not working, Rowe said she enjoys gardening and any opportunity to travel and take short trips with friends.

One evening, Glacier Park teacher Laura Morrow was in the self-checkout lane at Safeway when she noticed a large-statured man waiting behind her for her to finish. “I was feeling a bit of pressure to quickly scan my items and check out. All of the other lanes were open so I was wondering why he wasn’t using one of them,” Morrow said. “When I glanced back, he smiled and asked if I was Mrs. Morrow. I turned around and saw the face of a 30-something man, but I could also see the 7-year-old boy who was once my first-grade student.”

The man had moved back to the area with his four children, and his oldest was entering Glacier Park that year. “I love living and working in the same community! It’s a gift to be able to watch your former students learn and grow, run into their families around town and one day see their children in the same hallways they once walked,” she said.

Morrow taught for eight years at Lake Wilderness Elementary, and for the past 19 years at Glacier Park elementary, where she currently teaches first grade. She has taught both first and second grade, and for many of her years, looped with her students from first to second grade (looping is when a teacher stays with the same class of students for two consecutive years). In addition, she has served as a representative on the Instructional Leadership Team and mentored six student teachers.

Spending time with students and witnessing their “lightbulb” moments are two of her favorite aspects of the job. “I like teaching students to read and write, and to think deeper,” she said. “I enjoy their individual personalities.”

Another part of teaching that she loves is belonging to a team and collaborating with her fellow teachers and staff members. “The pandemic has thrown a bright light on how important that is --  

I admired how my team worked together to learn new skills, each of us bringing our strengths to support each other and rising to meet the challenges of remote learning during a pandemic,” Morrow said.

When she is not teaching, she enjoys spending time with family, hiking, boating, long walks and talks with friends. “I have a new set of golf clubs waiting for me to learn how to play!” Morrow added.

Lake Wilderness Elementary second grade teacher Rosemary Lathrop says she is inspired and energized by the curiosity and questions of students and parents about what motivates them -- as well as what causes struggles. Her fellow teachers and staff members are also a huge reason she loves her school and job, Lathrop said. 

“We've had a LOT of changes, and we keep finding the best in each other. These people are gems!” she said. “These past 14 months have taught us and reinforced for us the important things in our lives. After all these years in education, I have been continually reminded that flexibility in planning and grace in understanding ourselves and others are the things that will get us through this. My peers at LWES have pivoted in a wide range of work and life experiences, and still find a common ground to help support our kids and each other in these uncharted waters.”

Currently in her 32nd year teaching for Tahoma, Lathrop has spent her entire career at Lake Wilderness Elementary. During that time, she has taught first grade, second grade and blended grade classes, and has served on Student Assistance Teams, building leadership teams and instructional leadership teams, as well as mentoring 7 student teachers. She remembers and appreciates her own mentor teachers at LWES as well. “I was once a 'newbie' and learned so much from the staff of people who loved guiding our next generation of thinkers!”

Asked about memorable or sentimental Tahoma moments she would like to share, Lathrop said there are “way too many,” but mentioned memories of custodian helpers Vern and Bill, setting up field trips, and working on curriculum standards in math on a dining room table.

“The Tahoma School District has allowed its teachers to think through problems, brainstorm plans, possible solutions and work collaboratively to work towards a solution in search of what's best for our students. 

In her time off, Lathrop said she loves spending time with family, enjoying a good Italian meal with friends, and seeing things grow in the garden, where she is continually learning -- even from the slugs.

Teaching from the heart is central to the job of an educator, Rock Creek teacher Cheryl Peerenboom says. “We help our students grow and develop a passion for lifelong learning. It has been a wonderful legacy to leave behind!”

Before joining “Team Tahoma” in 1993, Peerenboom spent five years teaching second grade at Challenger Elementary in the Issaquah School District. After being encouraged to apply for an opening at Rock Creek, she interviewed with then-principal Joan Watt and was offered a position there. “I have been at Rock Creek ever since,” she added.

For several years, Peerenboom looped as a first/second grade teacher in order to spend extended time teaching the same groups of students. The majority of her years teaching have been spent in second grade. Additionally she has served on a variety of committees and, this year, as the ELA lead for the second grade team at RCES and as the building representative for TEA.

“I have enjoyed my time working with my second grade students. Their passion, enthusiasm, and engagement for learning puts a smile on my face every day! I have also enjoyed working with wonderful colleagues,” Peerenboom said. “Their support and dedication set a high bar for students to truly strive to learn all that they can. Finally, I have been encouraged at how supportive the community has been throughout the years with developments in teaching and learning.”

After retiring at the end of this school year, Peerenboom and her husband hope to move to the Olympia area in order to be closer to their children. She is also looking forward to volunteering at the Nisqually Natural Preserve, which offers educational environmental education to youth and young adults.

The relationships with students and their families is one of the most enjoyable aspects of teaching for Beverly Meeks. “Touching the lives of many fills my heart and soul with warmth and love,” Meeks says. “There are so many cute questions the 6-, 7- and 8-year-olds ask. Funny family stories shared, excited eyes and words when they get something they struggled at, and lots of sweet smiles, hugs, fist bumps, and happy ‘hellos’ every day.”

Tahoma students have been lucky enough to learn from three generations of Meeks’ family members. Her father, Rod Sivertsen, is retired from Tahoma High School, where he created the district’s popular leadership program. Greg Meeks, her husband, retired from teaching elementary students in Tahoma, after finishing up his teaching career at Rock Creek Elementary. Their oldest daughter, Molly Meeks, is a teacher at Tahoma High School, and their youngest, Megan Hokenson, completed her teaching program during the pandemic and is currently a substitute for a maternity leave in second grade at Shadow Lake Elementary.

In the 1987-88 school year, Beverly Meeks began teaching for Tahoma at Lake Wilderness Elementary. Through the years she also taught at Glacier Park Elementary and twice at Shadow Lake Elementary, where she is currently teaching second grade. Meeks also has had many different responsibilities, such as Teaching and Learning grade level representative, serving on the Instructional Leadership Team, being a Future Ready Skills representative and a math representative as well as mentoring a handful of future teachers with their college practicum or student teaching. For 12 years, she volunteered in Maple Valley as a soccer coach.

“Even as an elementary teacher, helping guide my students to become Future Ready is a gift. Teaching the habits of mind and now Future Ready skills can be started at such a young age,” Meeks said. “It is amazing to see how well my second-graders over the years have blossomed with many of our district’s Future Ready skills at such a young age.”

During the past year, the second grade team of teachers “worked fearlessly, collaborating with all aspects of remote teaching and during the new hybrid/remote schedule,” she said. “This pandemic has really shown us how we can come together to make our teaching and our students' learning grow, no matter what the situation. It took this ‘digital dinosaur’ a while to figure out all the technology parts of this new teaching, but I have grown so much from it and I know the students have, too.”

“We are trying our hardest to build the relationships, friendships, and social interactions pieces as much as possible with what little time we have in this 20-21 school year,” she continued. “My ‘Little Monkeys’ are dedicated and hard workers. They make me smile each day and (I’m) happy to be in person teaching with the AM/PM hybrid schedule.”

When not at work, Meeks said her family loves the outdoors, gardening, and camping. “We enjoy yelling at and supporting the Sounders soccer team, as well as the Seahawks.”

One of the most memorable moments in Traci Cline’s teaching career happened many years ago at Cedar River Elementary -- during the building’s first iteration as an elementary school. Cline’s classroom pet, a rat, escaped from its cage. “I was so nervous to go tell my principal. Gary Morgan just smiled and told me, ‘It’s not the first rat that has gotten loose and it won’t be the last! You better tell your hallway mates.’ He always kept me smiling! We did find the rat that day hiding under the cupboards. He had found a ‘previously chewed’ spot under there!” Cline recalled.

She began teaching for the Tahoma School District in 1997. Cline has taught at CRES, Glacier Park Elementary, Tahoma Middle School and, most recently, fifth grade at Tahoma Elementary School. At the other buildings, Cline taught sixth, second and third grades. She has served on building leadership teams, district science and math leadership teams, and as ASB co-adviser, and has spearheaded and participated in many committees throughout the years. She has mentored new teachers as well as student teachers.

“My favorite part of teaching is making connections with the students. They make me laugh out loud and always surprise me,” Cline said. “I’m a firm believer in teaching lifelong skills like how to be organized, how to make goals/plans for getting work done, setting goals, etc. I believe that when students learn those skills they are ready for anything that comes at them -- school or life.”

In the past year of teaching during the pandemic, Cline said that she and her coworkers have supported one another “in every way possible.” They are a great team and truly look out for one another, she said. “We laugh a lot together, which helps when things start to feel overwhelming. … My closest friends even now are those who (have been) my teaching companions.”

In her free time, Cline said she loves to sew, read, travel, and spend time with her grandchildren.

Teachers are often adaptable, quick learners who love inspiring others. But in the past year, Instructional Technology Coordinator Kimberly Allison said what she has seen from her peers throughout the district has been truly incredible. “Oh, my! I am so impressed with the amazing resilience and perseverance our teachers have demonstrated through all of this. Last spring was particularly tough for everyone. Often teachers were calling me out of frustration or desperation -- or both -- but they were always so appreciative and kind,” said Allison, who works in the district’s Teaching and Learning Department at the Central Services Center.

When she began her career with Tahoma 27 years ago, she taught all levels of high school language arts: English 9 & 10, Poetry, Creative Writing, American Women in Society, College Writing, etc. “I love helping students (teenagers and adults) meet or exceed their potential,” Allison said. About 14 years ago, she accepted a district-level position as an instructional technology coach. Most of her work now is with adults in the system, and she said she loves being able to show colleagues how to do something in a way that makes their work easier. For the past three years has been the Instructional Technology Coordinator, as well as providing leadership around the district’s Future Ready Skills.

“The Future Ready Skills work is essential to the district’s mission. I wish we were further along in realizing that vision, but I truly feel that these skills are essential to success. I’m glad our district recognizes their importance,” Allison said.

When not at work, she said she enjoys eating and cooking, particularly for friends, as well as quilting -- so much so that she recently converted part of her garage into a sewing room.