Cascade View Elementary teams up with Si View for games man
March 10, 2011
By Sebastian Moraga
Just call him “Ref.”
His real name, he admits, is a mouthful — Kendall Charles Watson-Tracy, hailing form Minnetonka, Minn.
But to the children of Cascade View Elementary School, Watson-Tracy is just Kendall, a presence as welcome on the playground as a new set of swings and slides.
“Before he came we would fight a lot,” said fourth-grader Lauren Forrest.
Kendall Watson-Tracy oversees a game at the playground of Cascade View Elementary School. By Sebastian Moraga
Classmates Joe Waskon and Christopher Haycock agreed.
“There would be a lot of arguments,” Waskon said, while Haycock said the games would be more complicated and disputed.
Enter Kendall, an employee with the Si View Metropolitan District, which has teamed up with Cascade View to bring Kendall and some order to break times at the school.
Between games of kickball, football, tweener and Frisbee, Kendall also lightens the load for other volunteers.
Shawn Clearman, decked in bright orange, said having Kendall there to teach and ref games allows her and other volunteers to focus on the children’s safety.
“It gives the duties’ people less work,” said Dillen Fullagar, a 9-year-old special-needs student.
Principal Ray Wilson said Kendall’s work has an impact far beyond deciding whether a home run was actually a ground-rule double.
“This playground is the outside classroom,” he said. “Here is where we teach social skills. We assume kids know all these things, and the truth is they don’t sometimes. We have to teach these things and having Kendall here is a great help.”
Even the disagreeable tasks become fun for the children if the personable Watson-Tracy asks them. If a ball strays too far, he picks two children and makes it a race to go get it.
“He’s not here to replace our people,” Wilson added.
Judging by the shoves at the kickball game, there’s still some arguing going on, but not nearly as much as it once was. The arguing has diminished and has been replaced by something much more positive: equality.
“Before Kendall came,” fourth-grader Libby Russell said, “the boys wouldn’t let us play.”
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