The Long Beach Unified School District Board of Education approved a proposal at its meeting this week to rename Rogers Middle School’s gymnasium for longtime teacher and coach Tim Ching.

Ching recently retired after 42 years as a PE teacher and coach of football, basketball, track and field, and baseball/softball (back when the LBUSD offered those sports in middle school).

Ching also won the PTA Golden Oak Award and was named the 2022 Rogers teacher of the year prior to his retirement.

LBUSD assistant superintendent over middle schools Christopher Lund wrote the proposal to honor Ching.

“(He) deserves this honor and recognition for his many years of outstanding service to multiple generations of families as an exceptional physical education teacher, coach, and mentor,” wrote Lund in the proposal.

The motion passed unanimously, and the name change will also include a new scoreboard for the gym that reads “Tim Ching Gymnasium.”

At the meeting on Wednesday, Lund added that Ching was beloved in the Rogers community and that the proposal had “near unanimous support of the students, parents, and staff of the community.”

Ching was honored as one of the “Best Teachers in Long Beach” by the Long Beach Post in 2009.

“They’ll probably bury me out there,” he said in an interview for that story, pointing to the school soccer field. “I just enjoy it.”

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