The Coast News, June 14, 2013

A8 THE COAST NEWS
JUNE 14, 2013
Teacher steps down after four decades
By Rachel Stine
CARLSBAD — Thomas
“TR” Robertson will be
leaving a legacy behind at
Carlsbad High School when
he retires at the end of this
school year.
Students and staff know
him by the movie posters
strewn across his classroom
walls, his hundreds of ties,
his easygoing chuckle and
his curled mustache.
And he has had plenty
of time to leave his mark.
Robertson has been teaching
at Carlsbad High School
for the past 44 years.
“He’s a great teacher,
and he’s fun to be around,
and he is Carlsbad High
School,” said senior Emma
Rudolph.
Replying to her praise,
Robertson laughed, “I’m
old.”
Robertson began as a
student teacher at Carlsbad
High School in 1968, and
was hired on fully the following
year.
He has taught multiple
generations of students from
the same Carlsbad families
and has had students, that in
later years, have returned to
Carlsbad High School to
teach or coach.
“I just did weird stuff
here and (the administration)
liked it,” he said of his
year of student teaching.
“I taught poetry classes
at lunchtime, analyzing the
poetry of the day because
most of it was peace and
love and freedom and antiwar...I
offered (the classes)
to the students in the library
and packed the house with
it. And so (the administration)
thought it was pretty
strange and creative, so they
ended up offering me a job.”
And with the exception
of when he was drafted from
1971-73 to serve in the Navy
during the Vietnam War,
Robertson has taught ever
since.
Throughout his career,
Robertson has taught
English classes, advised the
school newspaper, and
served as athletic director.
His domain has been ASB
and yearbook for the past 38
years, and in recent years he
has also taught sociology.
He said his favorite part
of every year is the first pep
rally and home football
game because of all of the
excitement that comes with
it.
Though he counts bringing
airbands and Lancer
Day, the school’s homecoming
celebration, as his top
accomplishments.
He designed airbands, a
competition where students
lip synch and perform popular
songs, in 1983 and initiated
the first competition
Thomas "TR" Robertson helps senior Jared Morr with some make up work less than two weeks before the school
year ends and Robertson retires. He’s been teaching at Carlsbad High School since 1968. Photo by Rachel Stine
Eager to engage students, Robertson wore costumes on occasion
throughout his 44-year teaching career at Carlsbad High School. Photo
from the Carlsbad High School 1976 yearbook
between Carlsbad High
School and El Camino High
School.
Airbands became so
popular, “Before you knew
it, we were being sponsored
by Pepsi Cola and other people,
and we were holding the
finals down in the Rimac
Center in front of about
6,000 people,” he said.
As for the school’s
homecoming celebration,
Robertson has helped develop
it into a full day community
event.
Lancer Day consists of a
half-day of classes, followed
by a school assembly elaborately
decorated according
to the year’s homecoming
theme, a parade with floats
representing schools and
clubs throughout the city, a
huge halftime dance performance
during the football
game, and the dance the
next day.
“We’re the only school
in the state of California
that does this,” he pointed
out.
But at 67 years old,
Robertson said he is getting
worn out by the big school
events and teaching full
time.
“The only reason I’m
retiring is I’m getting a bit
tired,” he said. “I feel good
about it, I’m sad. But it’s
time. I’m ready to slow down
a bit and do some other
things.”
He said he looks forward
to traveling with his
wife and playing more with
his two dogs.
Plus, he is excited about
new leadership taking over
his classes and bringing in
new technology to enhance
school events.
Furthermore, he said he
will have more than enough
reason to visit the school
because one of his sons,
Chris Robertson, will continue
teaching history at
Carlsbad High School.
He said that he will of
course miss his students and
all that they have taught
him, including patience.
“I think you achieve by
working hard. So a lot of
times students can get a little
lazy, and so I’m constantly
on them on working and
doing and striving and
things like that,” he said.
“But they’ve taught me
that they’re kids, that
they’re going to make mistakes
and that they’re going
to have great accomplishments
some days and other
days it’s just going to be in
the toilet. But they also
taught me just how incredibly
creative they can be.”
And as 44 years of
teaching at Carlsbad High
comes to an end, he said that
he never regrets pursuing
other career paths.
“I just knew I wanted to
teach and that’s all I ever
wanted to know. Never wanted
to do anything but that.”
Oceanside has looked at establishing a continuous quiet zone along
its five coastal rail crossings since 2006. The city is working with
Amtrak and SANDAG to make rail improvements in preparation for
future quiet zones. Photo by Promise Yee
Oceanside on track
to establish future
rail quiet zones
By Promise Yee
OCEANSIDE — NCTD
presented plans to conduct
a coastal corridor study to
establish a continuous
quiet zone along North
County rail lines at the
City Council meeting June
5 at the request of
Councilman Gary Felien.
NCTD invited Oceanside to
buy into the study.
Quiet zones establish
upgraded railroad crossing
safety measures to warn
vehicles and pedestrians
that a train is approaching
without the train sounding
its horn.
Currently there are 44
train trips chugging down
the coastal rails a day. By
2030 there will be an estimated
76 trips a day and a
horn blast at every crossing
that is not a quiet zone.
The idea of establishing
quiet zones is welcomed
by Oceanside, however,
the city has already
taken initial steps to establish
a continuous quiet
zone along its five coastal
rail crossings.
“We’ve been looking
at quiet zones for some
time,” Councilwoman
Esther Sanchez said.
Oceanside funded a
diagnostic study in 2006
and another one in 2007 to
look into establishing quiet
zones.
“The study would be
covering what we have
already done,” Scott Smith,
city engineer, said. “I don’t
know how beneficial it will
be since there’s no money
to go along with that study.”
The studies previously
conducted by Oceanside
conclude that the Federal
Railroad Administration
would likely OK a continuous
quiet zone through
Oceanside if safety, environmental
and maintenance
criteria were met.
The project is currently
on hold due to lack of
funding. The idea of establishing
an assessment district
to fund initial costs of
creating a quiet zone was
turned down by property
owners in 2009.
In the meantime the
city is working with
Amtrak and SANDAG as
opportunities arise to
make rail improvements in
preparation to establish
future quiet zones.
“We’re incrementally
addressing these crossings,”
Smith said. “We have
encouraged them to help
supply the safety measures.
We’re actually getting
close.”
Next steps will be to
secure funding to outfit
quiet zone crossings and
reach a memo of understanding
with NCTD on
crossings design and maintenance.
Felien said he was not
aware of what the city had
already done toward establishing
quiet zones and
thought the information
presented by NCTD might
be relevant.
“It may not be necessary
for us to participate in
the study if we’re that far
along,” Felien said. “I’m
excited we’re a lot farther
along than I was aware of.”
“The main issue is to
move ahead,” Felien
added. “The key is to get as
much outside funding as
possible.”