Her office is a shrine to the Dallas Cowboys, neatly strewn with everything from miniature helmets and bumper stickers to posters and autographed portraits. She doesn't leave the office unless her desk is free of clutter - and with the amount of paperwork she has to fill out every day, that can be a challenge. With a steady downpour of reforms from lawmakers in Sacramento, Tubbs expects the paperwork to keep piling up, making each year more challenging than the last. A Vacaville resident since 1994, Tubbs oversees a staff of 21 teachers, a reading specialist, two secretaries, two cafeteria workers and three custodians with daily duties as well as a nurse, psychologist and speech therapist who work some days at other schools. Anywhere from 380 to 400 students go to Elm, which draws from neighborhoods scattered throughout Vacaville.
Most kids ride the bus.
And since most parents prefer to send their kids to school as close to home as possible, kids come and go more frequently. Later on in the day, she signed off on an open-enrollment request to transfer a child to another elementary school in town. The relentless ebb and flow of students can be rough on teachers and kids alike. And because most students ride the bus, Tubbs said it's hard to set up after-school programs that would make the school feel like the second home she wants it to be. At times, demands bombard her from every direction.