Although the eighth-grade math students had five weeks left in the school year, teacher Jason Freed stood in his Alice Vail Middle School classroom with some parting words.
His talk was not about a test or homework — but life wisdom — the kind you hope sticks with at least one kid, almost all of whom will head to high school next fall.
“I don’t want anybody to be bullied, picked on, or anything like that. OK? But if somebody’s doing something silly, you don’t have to push back, ‘Well, I’m not going to do that.’ Cuz they’re being silly,” he said. “When they’re being mean, when they’re trying to do something that’s really, physical, that’s a totally different deal. So, I tell these things to you because you’re going to be in freshman year very soon. Your job is to come to school prepared. … Act like a young adult because you are, by your age, a young adult. The rest of this school year, do it really well.”
And about 10 minutes later, after questions and laughter, he extended his arms and said: “All right, guys. Good luck.”
Students filed out, black backpacks slung over one shoulder. Some waved. Damian stopped to lean in for a side hug. “I’m going to miss you Mr. Freed,” he said, looking down.
For his students it was midday on an April Tuesday during a week of state testing. For Freed, 48, it was his final day in the classroom.
After 25 years as a teacher, and a legacy at Vail that includes his dad, Ken, who taught there and his brother who attended Vail, Jason was clapped out of the school by staff and students that afternoon.
The following morning after some classroom cleaning, he reported to his new, full-time job: Employee relations director in the Tucson Unified School District. Freed is the first teacher in the position, he said.
The father of two high schoolers and husband of Emily, also an educator, aims to use a teaching career constructed with mutual respect as a foundation for the next chapter.
“I know in that position you need honesty, you need fairness and you need relationship building and he has all of those things,” Vail Principal Joshua Peebles said. “Even in that position. It’s about what’s best for kids.”
In his own words, Freed discussed the new job and reflected on how he became a teacher, then president of the Tucson Education Association — the labor union that represents teachers and most other classified employees — and what qualifies as success inside and outside the classroom:
On following dad’s footsteps
“I’ve done enough stuff in the district where I had said this is a job that I would like and I could do well. And it’s the only job that I would even consider other than being a teacher.
“The way that I choose to do the work, which is I don’t have to bully. There’s times that I’d meet with a principal and I’d say ‘you have an issue at your campus.’ The goal is to fix issues. I said ‘In half an hour, I drive away, but you all have to continue to live here. So, let’s do some work so that it’s the consensus.’ We can call it a grievance, but I’d rather us have a conversation about how do we get towards improving things?
“Why would I be a teacher? I know what it’s like for my parents. I watched them and their financial struggles and challenges and everything else. And then I just let it bounce in my head.
“So I said to my dad. I think it was after freshman year. I said, ‘Hey, I think I’m going to choose a major finally and I’m going to be a teacher.’ And he said, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘Now tell me this, do you like your job? I do. Every time me, my sister, or my brother have a performance, have a game, have a whatever, one if not both of you are there, right?
“We go on vacation for three weeks and would drive because we didn’t have the money for flying. But I’ve seen 49 of the 50 states. That sounds pretty good. I said, “You have your nights off, your weekends off, you had family time. I don’t need to be rich.
“I was going to teach fifth grade. That was the plan. I was going to teach fifth grade for 30 years and retire.”
On middle school respect
“There was an absolute moment, a very defining moment where there’s a knucklehead kid. And I said, ‘All right, everybody take your seats.’ And then everybody’s moving to the board and then I say it one more time, ‘All right guys, I need everybody to take their seats.
“And the kid keeps talking to somebody. I said, ‘I need you to take your seat.’ And he looks at me. I look at him. And it was this like, who’s in charge? And it just passed. I just waited. And then he decided to sit down. I said, ‘OK, that was great. Thank you.’
“It’s my reminder even still to say, you don’t actually have to be forceful. Because you’re already known as the authority in the room. You’re the one who’s standing while everybody’s sitting or you’re the adult. As long as you are the expert, then students will give you that, right?
“But they won’t, especially in middle school, they won’t if you’re not the expert and if you’re disrespectful.
“And even in this new position I will try to rattle the cages because all the evidence shows that what you need to do in middle schools is make them smaller and it’s not necessarily literally physically anything else. You can have a middle school of 600 students, you have to make it feel smaller for students.
“We talk about constants and variables in the context of math. I said, ‘But I’m a constant. You have people in your life that are variables. You have no idea who they’re going to be that next day. I’m a constant. I’m the same guy. Monday or Friday, it doesn’t matter. Good mood. Bad mood. Because I’m almost always in a good mood. And even if I’m not in a great mood from something that has happened outside of school, that’s not your doing. So I’m not going to bring that to school. I’m going to do my job and do this as well.
“So they knew it was safe. They knew that respect was critical. Everybody is going to be treated with respect. I don’t get extra respect because I have a college degree. I’m not even necessarily smarter than you because I have a college degree. I just know more stuff. So, trust that I’m going to give you some advice when it comes to math and some advice in life and have some faith that I’m trying to look out for your best interest.”
On the new gig
“Basically what I said (to students about the new job) is there’s like 6,000 employees in TUSD. My job is to support them all. Kind of a crazy idea, right?
“I’ve always seen myself as ‘I’m a teacher and doing this to support kids and support my colleagues.
“And so I come back to this space saying, “OK, I’m looking for a different way to support kids and support my colleagues. And as long as I am able to keep myself in that head space, I think that we’ll be able to find some success.”
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