Tahoma is breaking.

On Nov. 5, our community will have a choice to make. It has the responsibility to choose whether to invest in its award-winning school district or to let it continue to deteriorate and fall into disrepair while placing students and families on schedules that are not ideal or conducive to the quality learning the district prides itself in offering. As president of the Tahoma Education Association and a fifth grade teacher at Rock Creek Elementary, I hear the stories from staff and families everyday of how deteriorating conditions and overcrowding are making it difficult to meet the district’s mission of quality learning for every student, every day, in every classroom. It is by the grace and strong work ethic of the teachers, support staff and students in our district that we are able to provide the program we have. The diligence of our maintenance crews to keep conditions suitable for students and staff are commendable, but one can only use a duct tape approach for so long before it is time to invest in a fix.

Overcrowding and failing systems do not impact one or two schools; they impact them all.

Elementaries: our elementary schools are at max capacity. We have three of the 10 largest elementary schools in the state, with Lake Wilderness being number one serving more than 1,000 students in a building designed to serve 800. Each of the elementaries has portables to help alleviate overcrowding, but we are at our maximum. The district can no longer legally install more portables at most of these schools. Heating systems at Rock Creek and Lake Wilderness are breaking down regularly, and rooms such as PTA closets and computer labs are being converted into learning spaces in all of the schools. At Rock Creek, two classrooms started the year in the library and a converted computer lab due to water damage from a faulty roof. And just three weeks ago, Lake Wilderness had water pouring down into the hallway due to a failing roof. The duct tape is no longer holding our schools together.

Middle Schools: Dr. Amy Torrens, principal, reports that, “Tahoma Middle School has a compromised HVAC system. Although upgrades were made in the last remodel, it is not up to date and fully functional. We have classrooms that are freezing or hot with little in between. Additionally, we are dependent on having students absent in order to fit all a grade level in a cafeteria or the entire school for an assembly in the auditorium. We have put laptops in our computer lab knowing that we are about 10 kids from having to open it up as a classroom rather than a computer lab. The middle school model that provides so much support transitioning students from 5th to 6th grade is in jeopardy because we need to be able to share classrooms during the day.”

Similar to Lake Wilderness and Tahoma High School, Cedar River has a community of old portables that were never designed or intended to last as long as they have. Most of these portables were bought from the Kent School District for $1 apiece when that district was ready to scrap them over 20 years ago.

The Junior High: we are truly lucky we have the kids we do in this district. Never is the quality of kids so evident as it is up at the Junior High. The overcrowding at this school is so bad that at lunchtime there are not enough seats for all of the kids to sit down — and they have multiple lunches. The passing times are dangerous and more than one student reported to the principal that they fear passing time. Why? Because if they stop in the halls they risk getting run over. Students are often time late to class by no fault of their own — they simply are stuck in rush hour-like traffic.

The High School: as stated previously, the high school relies on portables to meet the instructional needs of its students. For our record number of recognized AP Scholars, much of the work these amazing kids do is in broken down portables with 36 other students. As reported by a parent: ”My daughter has told me her math portable was inhabited by squirrels, and when it’s warm out they are infested with ladybugs.”

Our kids deserve better.

So Maple Valley has a choice. Invest in its schools or let them break completely. These are facts, not threats. It is not a threat to place our elementary students on multi-track year round school models. It is not a threat to say that secondary levels will be placed on double shifted schedules, starting at 6 in the morning till noon, and noon till 6 in the evening. Saying program will be impacted and families’ schedules will be disrupted are not scare tactics — they are reality. Tahoma is breaking.

When your house’s foundation is in jeopardy of failing, what do you do? That is the question before voters this fall. I urge everyone to support this measure, because our foundation is failing. We have run out of options and we need your help. Please invest in our students, our staff, and the amazing program the Tahoma School District offers. Simply put, it is your responsibility.

John Schuster

Tahoma Education Association President