Donna ISD new teacher orientation started yesterday. Everyday this week, I'm at Donna High School from 730 am until about 4pm.
When we arrived Monday morning, we were greeted, given breakfast, and sent back outside onto a yellow school bus with all of the other ''new to the district'' teachers.
Great. Back on a yellow school bus with a bunch of other teachers.
My mind flashed back to Moody Towers in Houston this summer loading the yellow school bus at 645am with a blue lunch box in hand and a rolled up visual for my lesson. I was was going on 3 hours of sleep, and everyone around me was silent and somewhat bitter.
Once on the bus, we were quickly informed that we were about to take an hour tour of the school district. I thought at first this meant we would be driving to the different schools, or campuses as they call them here, so all of the teachers would get a feel for where they would be in the district in relation to the other schools.
Well, I was wrong, and we were not going to be going to the schools themselves. We were on our way to tour the neighborhoods where ours students live.
It was the single most motivating 'session' that I've gone through in my 2 1/2 month long process of preparation for the school year.
I was on the 'North' bus, because my campus (Munoz) is one of the most Northern campuses in the district. My school is 12 1/2 miles from the border. We drove past Munoz and the tour guide asked the Munoz teachers to raise their hands. There were only myself and two other teachers who raised their hands.
He pointed out the school, and we continued North.
The school bus pulled off the main road and headed west. I looked out the window as we entered a neighborhood.
I saw perfectly paved roads. Perfect green street signs, labeled, straight. There were curbs and no potholes. The road divided the neighborhood into perfect square, rather spacious plots of grassy land. The plots actually looked really spacious.
I pondered how big the lots looked, but then I realized it was probably because not one of them was occupied by 'house' by my archetype. They were all trailers. Some seemed to have been there for a long time and were very much apart of the land. They had gardens, attached garages, outside seating, etc. Others on the other hand, looked a little different. Some had piles and piles of odds and ends outside and were constructed with random pieces of wood and metal. Some had dogs chained up outside, and some had broken down cars outside. Some were better off than others, and some made me cringe.
The contrast between the perfectly paved roads and the colonia housing didn't seem to fit in my mind.
I found out that this land used to be all citrus orchards int he past, and when random freezes have happened, the citrus all die, an the landowners will sell of the land to developers. The realitors then divide up the land and sell them to people. Very very cheap pieces of land, which cheap payments, and HIGH interest rates. If you miss a payment, just once- you loose it basically.
The commissioner reciently had a huge initiative to pave more roads in the the colonias so buses could get through to pick up kids for school, and increase garbage collection efforts. I could definitely feel the difference on the bus between the paved colonias and the unpaved. The speed alone was drastically different.
The colonias rarely have running water, and not all have electricity, many have extension cords between houses to extend power.
The bus moved on to another colonia, and our guide began to explain that buses recently had a very had time getting into this colonia because kids would line the streets and attack the buses with rocks. The bus windows were getting broken, and bus drivers were scared. The sheriff department began to escort buses through this colonia to get the kids to school.
The bus driver asked again who was at Munoz. I raised my hand and he said, these are your kids. This is where they live. This is a Munoz neighborhood.
I looked out the window and saw two little kids in their underwear run to the open door of their trailer and look out at the passing school bus.
A minute later a car, with which looked like had teenagers inside, drove past and pelted a soda bottle at the bus. It hit a window by me, and I jumped back and realized I was staring.
The tour ended with the guide saying, so when kids are in your class, and they don't have the uniform, or they are hungry, or they couldn't do all their homework...Think about where they live, how they might not have had dinner, how they might not have electricity.
I know they weren't showing us these neighborhoods so we would feel pity for our kids, or feel sad, it was for us to
see! For us to really see- this is reality, these are your kids, and your kids families. This wasn't something for us to feel sad about reading about in a book, or hear about on the news, these kids we will be teaching in 2 weeks are people with lives and futures. The education we are providing them, impacts them and can change their lives.
Every time I get nervous about what I'm doing, or overwhelmed with the amount of work I have to do- I honestly think about this. I think- this is nothing, I am so insignificant right now in the sense that my fears are worthless. The scary thing is what happens if our kids don't get an education.
