by Donna Swagerty Shreve
My oldest son had completed his credential work and was desperately trying to get a full time teaching job for the 1998 school year. Currently he had a half time job teaching English as a second language in the Santa Rose district. He had interviewed for a full time ESL position but he lost out to a candidate straight from Mexico.
He knew he needed to find another part time job to survive the next year. Friday, before the start of the new year, Aaron attended an all district workshop. At noon he realized he could leave as he was only half time. He left and went back to his residence to relax before his partial job began the following week.
When he arrived back home, one of his three other roommates told Aaron a principal from a neighboring school district had called and wanted Aaron to return his call immediately. Cell phones were not available at this time.
Aaron quickly got a hold of the principal who offered him a full time job. Frank, the principal, could see the enrollment numbers rising. Finally on the Friday morning before the first day of school on Monday, Frank got the go ahead to hire one more teacher. He called Santa Rosa school district where Aaron had just missed out on an English as a Second Language job to an authentic Mexican. Aaron was given good reviews and Frank went to the phone.
After the job offer, Aaron asked two questions: 1. Could he go to Santa Rosa to get out of his just signed half time contract? 2. Could he save time and arrive in the principal’s office in his casual attire? Frank told Aaron he was impressed Aaron felt the need to cancel his other contract in person. Yes, casual attire would be fine. Please hurry.
Aaron was given the key to his room plus his list of students. The condition of his room could not have been starker. Aaron heard later from a parent, of a student in his room, about their first impression of his room. The mother and son had gone to the school to view the class lists. The class lists had been posted Friday morning at the school. The mother and son went to the back bank of windows to view the new room. When the boy observed his room, he burst into sobbing. All of the desks and chairs were piled into a far corner. There were no tables or bookcases or even a teacher’s desk. Other items such as carts for books were added to the mix. Usual tables for small groups were not in the room. There were no supplies or tools such as staplers, tape etc. It had not been cleaned by a janitor and was dusting and long neglected.
Meanwhile Aaron met with the principal and superintendent in his tank top, shorts and flip flops and signed his new contract. How could he be ready for students on Monday? He first tried calling me late Friday afternoon. John and I had gone out to dinner after a long week of teaching in my own classroom. Aaron then called his brother Brad who was a student at University of California at Santa Cruz. Brad had no idea where we were. Aaron kept calling until he got me. I immediately jumped into “miracle mode.” I promised Aaron I would meet him at his school Saturday morning with some supplies and ideas. I then returned to my classroom Friday night and gathered up various materials I thought we could use.
Saturday morning arrived and at Aaron’s new school was panicking Aaron, mother loaded with possible solutions and the surprise arrival of brother Brad. Brad had shown up to help in any way he could. I jumped into hyper mode. First I wrote jobs to be done on the front white board. I had brought dry erase makers of my own, plus scissors, stapler and some colored paper. As each chore was completed, it could be crossed off. First we had to find a sweep broom and then arrange the desks. We even cleaned off each desk.
Lucky for Aaron, several teachers were also at the school doing finishing touches to their own classrooms. They quickly showed Aaron where the supply closet was located. As we focused on our many tasks, I noticed various teachers checking out our progress throughout the day. For two long busy days, the three of us preformed a miracle. The desks were arranged in groups with hanging numbers identifying each clump. We even made time to complete the bulletin board outside the classroom welcoming each student by name.
To add to the challenge of the condition of the classroom were the students themselves. Aaron had been given a combination class composed of fourth and fifth graders. Other teachers had been asked to pick several students to make up a new classroom. Adding to this toxic mix was a group of students from a “ghetto” area of town. The only consideration given to Aaron was dividing up a certain group of his students to other classrooms for one week. Aaron was given the first week of school to establish classroom procedures before the selected potential difficult students were returned. Later some teachers volunteered to take back a few trouble makers so Aaron could have a chance.
Somehow Aaron survived his first year and went on to teach in this district continuing all the way to this school year 2017-2018. The percentage of drop out of new teachers within the first five years is high. Until schools are able to give more support to new teachers, education will continue to lose new teachers at a rapid rate. Aaron said he wanted to follow in the “family business” and proved he has stamina and determination.
Swagerty-Aldrich Family Web Site 