Making a difference
Ray Liberg doesn’t mind being known as that grandpa who teaches sex education to West Valley students. It’s a role he has filled for more than 40 years.
Last week, the West Valley School District recognized his total of 50 consecutive years in education with a “You Make A Difference” award. The 76-year-old Liberg began teaching in 1957 and taught 27 years at the former Argonne Junior High School in health, physical education and coaching.
He retired from daily classroom teaching in 1989, but each year, the district has tapped his skills as health, wellness and sex education program director. West Valley has long relied on using the same two people who are trained to teach sex education district-wide, something Liberg has done with teaching partner, Connie Stacy, since 1972.
“West Valley is about the only district that has two people doing this; other districts rely on health teachers,” Liberg said. “We’ve been trained to teach this program and there are always two of us in the classroom.”
“The kids get the same information and have just two people teaching. It’s consistent.”
They only time Liberg and Stacy divide up is for a short time with fifth-graders to go over the reproductive system, Liberg added, and then they come back together to cover overall program subjects such as HIV.
After so many years, Liberg handles the younger kids’ giggles with ease and has no qualms publicly stating terms for body parts. It helps to have a sense of humor and to set up ground rules, he added.
“We start classes with ground rules, like what’s talked about here stays here, and that you don’t talk about personal stories. I tell them they can laugh three times and then we get serious.”
In the late 1980s, all state school districts began offering at least two hours of sex education each year to grades 5 through 12. West Valley was far ahead of that curve and started a basic program with parent participation around 1965, according to Liberg.
“We didn’t call it sex education then,” he said, “but we started it after kids who were of baby-sitting age would get obscene phone calls. Parents thought the kids should get some kind of knowledge. We formed a committee of parents, teachers, clergy, school board members, and administrators and we set up a program – very basic.”
Today, the education is tailored for each grade level and touches on personal hygiene, body changes, abstinence, responsibility and respect for others, Liberg said.
“Our curriculum teaches abstinence and we really stress that, but we also know that everyone’s not going to do that, so we cover protection and responsibility. Being a responsible person and respectful of others, we stress that a lot.”
As in other districts, the program allows parents to review the material a month prior and parents can opt not to have a child participate. “We’ve always had parent involvement, which has made the program successful in our district.”
Liberg, who taught two sons and now two grandsons in West Valley, wants to stay involved in the next step for the program now that Stacy is set to retire this year.
“I’d like to see the program continue and I’d like to help in a consulting way,” added Liberg, who lives in Pasadena Park with wife, Helen. A retired Army Colonel, he also stays busy as an Eastern Washington University booster club member and with golfing.
“I like to stay busy. I like kids. I like the West Valley School District. They’ve treated me well.”
CVSD teachers earn certification
Eight Central Valley School District teachers recently achieved certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The process includes a comprehensive portfolio and a series of assessments to measure subject knowledge.
Those CVSD teachers who achieved National Board Certification in 2007 include:
David Cunningham – Greenacres Middle School, eighth grade language arts and multimedia
Leanne Donley – Central Valley High School, leadership and language arts
Amanda Henneberg – Greenacres Middle School, seventh-grade language arts and social studies
Bridget Hocutt – McDonald Elementary, literacy facilitator
Amanda Mortensen – Evergreen Middle School, seventh-grade math and science
Amy Smith – Summit School, fifth and sixth grade
Ann Warner – Bowdish Middle School, media specialist
Nicole Welding – Evergreen Middle School, seventh-grade language arts and history, eighth-grade language arts.
Certification is a year-long introspective process that requires teachers to submit a four-part portfolio and a six-exercise content and pedagogy assessment. The 10 entries document a teacher’s success in the classroom as evidenced by his or her students’ learning.
15 days of giving brings in toys, food, clothing
Hundreds of donated toys, food and clothing items will help make the holidays brighter for needy families as Freeman students in grades K through 12 wrap up Freeman’s 15 Days of Giving holiday drive. The Freeman School District’s second annual district-wide community service campaign began on Nov. 26 and concluded on Dec. 14.
Students, staff and parents in Freeman elementary, middle and high school worked together to promote the campaign, collect and count donated items, and deliver the items to local social service agencies including Spokane Valley Partners (formerly Spokane Valley Community Center). This week, nearly 50 middle school students volunteered at the Spokane Valley Partners’ Season of Sharing to help distribute the items they worked so hard to collect, according to a press release from the Freeman Paretnt Teacher Student Association.
Freeman’s 15 began on Nov. 26 with “5 Days of Toys.” Students, families and staff donated more than 695 new toys or gift items during the first five days of the campaign.
The second week, “5 Days of Food” included “Turkey Tuesday” which generated donations of 55 frozen turkeys. Nearly 2,000 pounds of nonperishable food items were also collected to benefit Freeman families and the Spokane Valley Food Bank.
The third and final week, “5 Days of Clothing” wrapped up on Dec. 14, generating donations of 2,150 clothing items for children, teens and adults. Teen clothing was donated to Crosswalk, children’s and men’s items were given to the Spokane Valley Clothing Bank with women’s items benefiting the YWCA’s Our Sister’s Closet.