The first full week of May is designated as Licensed Employee Appreciation Week. At Clackamas ESD alone, we have at least 20 types of licensed jobs, with many variations in those positions. These are people who have completed higher education and earned licenses to be certified to teach students, lead continuing education training for staff, serve as social skills specialists, and provide speech, physical and occupational therapy within Clackamas ESD programs and the school districts we serve.
This Licensed Employee Appreciation Week, we’re highlighting a few of our more than 160 licensed staff members and contractors to provide a peek into the diverse ways this large group of employees lives our mission of service. We appreciate our entire licensed team and the meaningful work they do.
Karen Morley is an adaptive physical education teacher for Clackamas Education Service District’s 14 Life Enrichment Education Program classes. She helps students in LEEP with multiple and complex disabilities get moving and have fun doing it by tailoring physical activities to students’ individual needs.
Some of the equipment in Karen’s classes is typical of any gym class — rubber balls, scooters and hula hoops — and some is specific to LEEP students’ needs, like the adapted bicycles and gait trainers that help students with mobility issues bike, walk and run.
These activities help the students “get strong, improve confidence, and build skills so they can throw a ball around with their peers and move around the playground on their own,” Karen explains.
When the pandemic kept students at home, Karen had to learn how to teach physical education on a computer screen.
“It was really challenging. I’m not a technology person, so there was a learning curve for me. But it ended up improving the way I teach PE,” Karen reflects. “Every morning now, I visit a different LEEP classroom and do an exercise routine over Zoom, and the other classrooms tune in and follow along. It’s been a lot of fun and a great way for students and staff to connect with their peers in other classrooms.”
Karen also teaches lessons outside of the gym and the classroom, bringing students out into the community to go bowling and play golf and soccer.
“It opens them up to new experiences they might not otherwise have and builds relationships and connections to the community,” Karen says. “It’s good for the kids, and it’s good for the community to see all the things our students can do.”
Karen has worked at Clackamas ESD since graduating college 30 years ago. She says she “lucked into the role.”
“I had just graduated college with my degree in physical education, and a friend with a child with Down Syndrome told me about an opening for a long-term substitute adaptive PE teacher at Clackamas ESD,” Karen shares. “I was great friends with their child and thought working with students like them sounded fun, so I applied and got the job. The teacher I was subbing for didn’t return, so I was offered the permanent position. And 30 years later, I am still here because I love working with these kids!”
Since fate first brought her to adapted PE, Karen has completed her master’s degree in education with an emphasis in movement studies in disabilities and has earned an adapted PE endorsement.
Karen is continuously inspired by her students’ abilities and her relationships with them, their families and her fellow special education staff. She is especially passionate about the LEEP track meet, a yearly tradition 18 years running before COVID-19.
The LEEP track meet is held at the outdoor track at Gladstone High School. Each student participates in at least four events and gets a medal.
“The LEEP track meet is meaningful to the students, but it’s even more meaningful to their families. Sometimes the parents run the race with their children,” Karen says. “I’ve had parents say to me, ‘I’ve never had people cheering for my kid before,’ and it means so much to them.”
