Editor:
Year after year our students at Española middle school have been displayed on the Rio Grande SUN as being disobedient and frequently cause a lot of commotion which disturb the learning process. There have been other articles that portray our administration and staff as being disorganized and having no control over our students.
I have taught in this facility for nine years. During those years I have worked alongside with some amazing and caring teachers. I have also had the privilege of teaching some of our valley’s most impressive kids. It is obvious that those articles about our school and students are written to make the public aware of what is happening in our school.
However, I ask, “Why are our students always targeted for wrong doing?” I have yet to see a reporter rush to our gates when our students have raised test scores, won spelling bee champ, Cultural Fairs, Celebration of Learning, MESA champs. The list goes on and on of our students’ accomplishments, yet we are unable to read about it. It hurts for a teacher to walk into his/her classroom a day after a hurtful article has been written in the Rio Grande SUN and see the anger and frustration their students faces. It is even more hurtful to hear community members ask if we fear working here, or if we wear a bullet proof vest in the classroom. What mental images have been painted into the minds of your readers? I continuously verbally defend our students; and now I do it in print.
Yes, we do have kids who take pride in their school and their education. And, yes, we have students who try to test boundaries and want to be defiant. However, we have many students that come from good families with supportive parents. When you write in your articles that the students from Espanola Middle School did something wrong; you are generalizing. I can look at all my students and they are great people in the making.
I learned from my greatest teacher ever, my mom; “If you tell a kid that they are bad, obnoxious, mean, spoiled; they will act as that. If you tell them that they are wonderful, smart, sweet, caring… they will act according to the standards you have set before them.” Why don’t we give the students from Española Valley a chance to prove those images wrong?
Monica Garcia
Abiquiú