Pierce Co. students didn’t get enough P.E. The district reassigned art teachers
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- Two art specialists will be reassigned to P.E. next year in the Peninsula School District.
- Reassignment ensures compliance with a state law requiring 100 minutes of P.E. per week.
- Parents voiced concern about impact to kids at Purdy and Swift Water Elementary schools.
Two art teachers in the Peninsula School District will teach P.E. next school year, after the district discovered that two of its elementary schools are not meeting state requirements for P.E. instructional time.
The decision affects Purdy Elementary and Swift Water Elementary, the only elementary schools in the district with their own art specialists. Other elementary schools in the district have P.E., music and sometimes STEM specialists, but don’t have enough students to support a fourth specialist slot, according to the district’s Chief Financial Officer Ashley Murphy.
At a school board meeting May 19, Jen Skjerven, a Swift Water parent and member of the school’s Volunteer Parent Organization (VPO) board, called on the district to restore the art specialists. Skjerven emphasized the value that art has for kids during the rise of AI. No parent volunteer can replace a dedicated art specialist, she told the board.
“A specialist watches a child struggle with a concept and knows how to redirect them,” Skjerven said. “A specialist teaches the vocabulary of visual art and the principles of design and the history of human expression across cultures. A specialist sees a quiet kid light up over clay and nurtures that. And a parent volunteer, no matter how wonderful, is there for one afternoon and moving on.”
The News Tribune reached out to the district to learn more about the changes, and district CFO Ashley Murphy responded with information in an email May 21.
“We are not eliminating any staff positions,” she wrote. “We are reallocating two art specialist roles at Purdy Elementary and Swift Water Elementary, to ensure we meet state legal mandates and provide equitable access to all our students.”
Murphy cited a state law that says students in grades 1-8 must receive at least 100 minutes of physical education each week. District staff recently met with the teachers’ union to review elementary school schedules and discovered the district hadn’t been in compliance with this law, she wrote.
Purdy and Swift Water are the only elementary schools in the district with dedicated art specialists, according to Murphy. That’s because funding for specialists is tied to student enrollment, and Purdy and Swift Water have the biggest student populations.
“There will be no staff loss at Purdy or Swift Water as a result of this transition,” Murphy wrote. “This is strictly a shift in assignments. Our two current art specialists are guaranteed a position within their current building.”
She also wrote that the district continues to make art a priority. They continue to support Peninsula Hands On Art, a nonprofit that leads hands-on art projects for students, through their levy, she wrote, and are starting an orchestra program.
“Furthermore, art will be integrated into core instructional subjects through daily lessons and through other specialist options like Music and STEM,” she wrote. “Our orchestra expansion is just one example of our long-term, continued commitment to the arts.”
The News Tribune reached out to the president of the Peninsula Education Association for comment on the staff changes, but did not hear back before publication.
