For many years, Tom Leachman has been a prominent and respected educator in the Lewiston School District and Lewiston High School.
He began his journey in education as a substitute teacher, eventually earning a full-time position at Sacajawea Middle School. There, he taught 7th-grade life science for 14 years and served as the football and track coach, making a lasting impact both in the classroom and on the field. When a position opened at the old Lewiston High School downtown, Leachman took the opportunity and began teaching biology and anatomy, continuing to share his deep passion for science education with older students.
Years later, he expanded his course offerings to dual-credit Honors Biology (Bio 100) and an Anatomy class, a program that he has successfully led for the last 10 years. Throughout his 36-year career, Leachman has maintained a consistent schedule and routine, earning the respect of colleagues and students alike. He also played a key role in helping establish a school-wide interim testing program in recent years, an initiative that is expected to remain and evolve.
Bengal’s Purr: What sort of plans do you have for retirement?
Leachman: I’ll be doing a lot more things that I’ve done throughout my life, but I have more time to do it, like I’ll be exercising more, going to the gym regularly, bike riding a lot more again, and probably be doing more hunting. I’ll also be doing handgun competitive shooting, I’ll continue to travel and compete, and also I have another business where I paint houses in the summer that I’ll continue to be doing.
Bengal’s Purr: What will you miss most about being a teacher?
Leachman: Ah, I will miss the people the most, because the students, the teachers, have just been amazing. That’s probably one of the greatest things. It’s not the number of years that I’ve taught. It’s just about all the amazing people that I met through coaching, through teaching, and how students that are now parents have their kids in my classes now, so that’s probably the most amazing thing out there.
Bengal’s Purr: Can you provide advice for new teachers?
Leachman: Have a firm flexibility in the way you teach. Be organized and have high expectations, but realize that sometimes exceptions have to be made. Be organized. You know, control everything you can, and spend time getting to know the students. Learn their names right away.
Bengal’s Purr: What was your favorite class to teach, and can you explain why?
Leachman: You know what? I enjoyed all my classes I’ve taught, from seventh-grade life science to biology, honors biology, and anatomy. Out of all those I’d have to say anatomy, because when I went to college, one of the things that I had considered was going to physical therapy, I’d considered going into nursing, and then I kinda found out about education, the last couple years of college, and I found out that I really liked that… I also just love the topic so much. It was probably one of the hardest classes I’ve taken at Lewis-Clark State College. I did my undergraduate there. I did my graduate school and got my master’s and national board teaching certificate at the University of Idaho. So the anatomy thing just comes full circle again, as the anatomy class was amazing. He was actually my advisor and uh, I just learned that I had a knack for it and I really enjoyed it and still do to this day.
Bengal’s Purr: Would you like to add anything else?
Leachman: Y’know, I could have retired a few years ago, and I found I wasn’t ready yet, and last year, I was ready. I actually had all my paperwork in, and I was asked to come back one more time and help fill in the gaps and do some training, but I don’t regret adding one more year. I feel like this year that I taught has been one of my best ones, you know, as far as enjoying my students, teaching, and organization. I loved training my intern, Ms. Freed, and working with the department. It just felt like it would leave on more of a positive note.
