Teller Elementary School principal Jessica Rose Downs knew she had a special PE teacher on her hands even before she started working at the school.
During her interview for the school’s top job, Downs spoke to some of the students on the playground and asked them what made Teller special. The most common answer that came back was “the Diva.”
That “Diva” is physical education teacher Chris Baumgartner — or Miss Chris — who came to the school in 1998.
“I knew even before I joined Teller that she had a huge impact on the culture in the school,” Downs said.
The other thing Downs noticed was how calm the playground was compared to some others she had seen, and how well the children played together. That was because Baumgartner started the PE Aces program, which gives students leadership opportunities and allows them to help monitor recess and coordinate activities during students’ time outside. It greatly reduced conflict on the playground, giving Teller one of the best-running playgrounds in the district.
“I started it because I needed help, because the playground was just chaotic,” Baumgartner said. “I gave them responsibilities and, lo and behold, they can handle it.”
But after 17 years at Teller and 46 with , Baumgartner is going to hang up her whistle and pass off her programs to the next PE teacher at Teller as she enters retirement. The last day of school is June 5.
Downs said she hopes to continue the PE Aces program and Baumgartner has agreed to help train the new teacher on how that works, along with the school’s Mighty Miles program, which gives students credit for running laps at the school and prizes for completing certain milestones.
This year, Baumgartner had 92 students ranging from third to fifth grade serving as PE Aces. The students have their own T-shirt to wear and give up their recess when they are scheduled to be an Ace.
“Those kids, they really are leaders,” Downs said. “They advocate well for others, they play by the rules outside, they really are phenomenal leaders.”
Baumgartner’s office is peppered with references to her Diva nickname. She said it came from a phone call where she referred to herself as a PE Diva, but doesn’t know how it became so common. But she has embraced it and has been a mentor to both students and faculty throughout the years at Teller.
“She’s funny — a lot of people feel comfortable talking to her,” Teller librarian Cathey Bonnefoi said. “Her office is kind of the meeting place.”
Bonnefoi has taught with Baumgartner for 14 years, but even after one year, art teacher Katie Taft has been greatly influenced by “Miss Chris.” She said she immediately noticed how easy recess duty was for her, whereas at her last school, she was constantly having to deal with conflicts or disruptive behavior.
“Now I can just walk around and hang out with kids and enjoy it,” Taft said. “That’s because she put in so much hard work.”
Baumgartner, 67, said she got into teaching PE because she liked to play games and play sports. She was encouraged by her father to go college and she credits him for where she is today.
Baumgartner said she quickly realized that all she learned about teaching specific sports was less important than teaching kids to appreciate activity, movement and good sportsmanship. Even her field day is not competitive.
Baumgartner said she realizes the difference she made with some kids, but she doesn’t often get to see the impacts as they move on to middle school. But as she retires, she is grateful for the home she found at Teller.
“I think that I have made a difference to some kids and, you know, the unfortunate thing is, you usually don’t know the difference you made for somebody,” Baumgartner said. “Hopefully I did.”
Joe Vaccarelli: 303-954-2396, jvaccarelli@denverpost.com or twitter.com/joe_vacc
