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I know that families leaving the Center is part of life here. Life goes on when that happens. I’ve lost a ton of kids in my classes throughout this year, and it’s gotten way easier and it feels pretty much normal when it happens. But recently, I lost 2 girls in my English class (so I only have 2 now), and it breaks my heart to lose this family.
These two girls are twins, 11 years old, and they had never been to school before this year. In just a few months, they jumped from 1st grade to 3rd grade because they were improving so much. (Their 14 year old sister also jumped from 4th grade to 6th grade this year in the same amount of time.) They could not read a word of Spanish when I met them in September, and they now they can read Spanish easily. It was crazy to see how much they improved in Spanish and English in these past few months.
And now… they haven’t been to school in weeks (I think they’ve been to one day of class since Easter), and I found out that they are leaving the Center because of their mother’s apathy. The Center has been having problems with the two oldest kids missing classes recently, and the mom is never at the Center so they can’t talk to her. The last time they saw the kids the directors said they needed to come back with their mom or they couldn’t enter. One of the other girls in my English class saw the twins one evening last week and the twins told the other girl to give me a hug and a kiss goodbye because they’re for sure leaving the Center. They were collecting their stuff from their locker to move out.
It’s horrible to think about the situation of these two girls. They have so much potential - they are really intelligent, really motivated, and overall sweet girls - and they have so much opportunity at the Center with free food, education, and a work program. They are losing all of that because of lack of involvement on the mother’s part. Their dad is not in the picture - all of the kids have different dads. Who knows what’s going on with the mom. It’s just a terrible cycle, and these girls are stuck in it and can’t get out of it right now through no fault of their own…
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Kate Hedrick
non-member comment
Teaching
Laura, Thanks for sending me this link! Sounds like you must be a pretty good teacher for the girls to improve so much, but it's disappointing when parental support hinders a students ability to progress or even attend school. There are so many different systems that a student belongs to, their family system, school system, community, friend, etc. etc. etc. Unless all are working together, it's hard to depend solely on one system to bring up all the rest. I'll be praying for you and all your students. I'm sure you tend to be involve with so many levels of these students lives, bringing joy and a positive mentor in to their lives. Keep it up, Laura! Next year i too will be working with Latinos, specifically Latino migrants up in Yakima, WA as a homeless outreach worker providing health care services. I believe i will be driving in a car, conversing with random people on the streets, and asking if they need to go to the doctor or dentist or receive any other health care services from Yakima Neighborhood Services, the name of the organization I will be working for this year. Next August (2010), I will start grad school at UT Austin to receive a Masters in Social Work so that I may become a therapist, hopefully counseling in Spanish here in Texas, my home state. We'll see! I hope our paths cross again some day, if not here on earth than in heaven! :) kate