Tacoma Specialists news & updates
July 2020 Vol. 1
Speak Up for SPECIALISTS
Specialist placements for next year are fragmented, inequitable, and insufficient to provide quality instruction or even planning time for classroom colleagues during a normal school year, never mind during a pandemic. Students are getting short-changed. Teachers are getting ___________.
Click below to see what's happening at your school and 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 since the assignments were made to gather information, rally support and determine next steps for solving this district-wide problem.

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)
  • Position (Staff Position, Parent, Citizen, Student)
How You Can Help
Contact your administrators, school board members, social media friends, local media, Here is a guide with TPS contact information and sample messages.
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.
eSpecially Healthy
Many specialists are needlessly being endangered by thoughtless deployment decisions. This increases risk of infection to the specialists, their families, and the staff and students and families of everyone they serve.
Flawed Staffing Formula
The district has not done their homework on how many classes will fit into a school day.
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?
Lowell Elementary PE program is being undermined by staffing decisions which create barriers to best instructional practices.
Is This What's Best for Kids?
-Steve Johnson, Physical Education Educator, Lowell Elementary
... Specialist are charged with the task of building relationships with all 400-500 students in their buildings utilizing the 30-60 minutes we see them weekly.
   For the 20/21 school year my school is designated to have PE 4 days per week (M,W,Th,F). I have been assigned another school on Tuesday and Wednesday. Since I won’t be at my home school on Wednesdays another PE teacher from a 1.0 school will cover my Wednesday classes. That teacher’s home school Wednesday classes will be covered by a PE teacher from yet another school...
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 Maunapa - Library, Lyon 
Roxane Hreha - Music, Whitman
Steve Johnson - PE, Lowell