[familyschool] Re: Hola Familia!
- From: rsafree <rsafree@xxxxxxx>
- To: familyschool@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2014 05:21:07 -0500
Esly, you are an amazing person, an excellent teacher, a trusted comrade, and
a treasured friend! Our Family School family would not be complete without you!
My deep love n respect to you!!!
From my Android phone on T-Mobile. The first nationwide 4G network.
-------- Original message --------
From: Starshyne 777 <starshyne777@xxxxxxx>
Date: 06/02/2014 11:31 PM (GMT-06:00)
To: familyschool@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [familyschool] Re: [familyschool] Re: Hola Familia!
I am so grateful for you, Esly... you have always been an incredible teacher...
my girls adore you... and yep it is true... Trinity will be jumping right into
Spanish 2 because of you...
Sent from Windows Mail
From: Jeff Moore
Sent: Monday, June 2, 2014 9:32 PM
To: familyschool@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Esly, the kids like you and I think you are compliant enough to be one of
Southsides many great teachers!
On Mon, Jun 2, 2014 at 7:47 PM, bmarget macpag <brymarmacpag@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Thank you for your letter Esly! You are awesome!
On Mon, Jun 2, 2014 at 7:42 PM, Karen Thill <krnthill@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Esly,
Thank you so much for sharing your incredible, frustrating story. I am so
sorry you were treated in this way.
I haven't been able to read all the emails, but it seems things are looking up.
Thank you for your diligence and commitment
to our kids and the school.
Best of luck as you figure out your licensing options. I hope you look back at
this time as a little bump in the road!
Best-
Karen Thill
Rebecca Richardson
parents to Isaac Richardson, 2nd grade
On Mon, Jun 2, 2014 at 5:40 PM, esly giron vargas <eslygiron@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
HOLA FAMILIA!
I want to take a minute to thank all of you for your incredible support and
love. The last few months have been full of sadness, disappointment, and anger
for me. But above all those feelings, the love for your wonderful kids makes
things better every day. Last Monday I was feeling extremely sad and I thought
“it is over” and there’s nothing we can do. But I was so wrong and after our
meeting on Tuesday my heart was feeling full and hopeful . I have been really
proud to be part of the Family school community, and your energy, work, great
ideas, and your desire to keep the Dream alive is so great, and I want to keep
being part of this great community.
I know my name has come up as part of the “compliance/licensure” issues that
the school has had. I do not like to talk about myself but I feel like I have
to for you to understand why this situation has been so difficult for me. To
that end, I would like to share some info about my path to being an educator
who loves her job!
I was born and raised in Guatemala and completed the education and training
there to be a licensed elementary school teacher in 1993. I was a licensed
teacher at a 2 primary schools in Guatemala for 2 years and taught 3rd, 4th,
and 6th grade. Additionally I received training on teaching Spanish as a
second language in 1997 and worked for nearly 2 years (1997-99) as a Spanish
Immersion Teacher in a non-profit Spanish Immersion School in Guatemala.
During this time, I also continued my education and was close to completing
additional courses to be a High School Teacher but met a gringo named Brian and
moved to the U.S. in 1999.
In 2001, I applied for a Spanish Instructor opening at Southside Family School.
At that time, Southside Family School was an alternative school and a state
license was not required for the position. Nonetheless I submitted my resume
and credentials from Guatemala and was hired. I have loved working at this
amazing school since. The opportunity to teach not only my native language but
my culture and history has been extremely rewarding. I know I have the skills,
knowledge, experience, and determination to be an effective Spanish teacher. I
am thrilled to hear from former students how many have jumped up 1 to 2 years
in Spanish as high school students.
When the school switched to charter status I continued working in my role as
Spanish Instructor. There were a lot of changes in becoming a charter and I
had no idea I was not in compliance. I have never intentionally worked out of
compliance and have always worked with administration and my co-workers through
these issues. I am currently licensed (as of mid April) by the state of
Minnesota as a Community Expert to teach Spanish. This license is good through
the current academic year. I have the option to re-apply as a Community Expert
for next year or work on getting a provisional license. I am currently
undecided and debating what direction to take. It is hard for many immigrants
who are trained and have the skills to do a job to jump through hoops. To get
a provisional license I need to translate and submit my Guatemalan credentials.
I am happy to have my current license but so sad and upset at the path it took
to get it.
In the spring of 2013 I had my first direct “bad” experience with Toni. She
came to my room at the end of a long day and in a very rude way she told me “ I
don’t have anything in your file that proves you are qualified to do this job”.
I was shocked and very offended. I told her that I had gone through the
whole interview process -application, having interviews, probational time
period and had submitted the names of people and organizations that knew about
my ability to do what I was hired to do. She said, “I am not saying that you
don’t do your job the right way, I am saying that you do not have anything in
your file”. I submitted college transcripts that I could obtain but felt
embarrassed because I could not prove with papers my ability to do my job.
In the fall of 2013, Toni talked about doing work to be in compliance. I did
NOT resist this and was given two options:
1. Apply for the Community Expert licence. She stated that it wasn’t an easy
process, that there were a lot of requirements, and that it wasn’t a guarantee
I was going to get it. I was also told I would have to quit and re-apply. The
school would post my job but that she would try to re hire me. But I was told
that if the licence did not go through that I wouldn’t have my job back.
2. Change my position to a “Para” where my payment would go from salary to
hourly employee. As a Para I was not going to get pay for days off like
winter break and spring break.
Toni also said many times that as “para” I was paid too much, much more that
any para in any charter school. And that my payment was going to be frozen,
because of my perceived high pay situation.
I discussed my options with my family and close co-workers. I really wanted to
do the Community Expert Licensing option but was very concerned about my
family’s economic well-being. My husband, Brian, had just completed schooling
for Occupational Therapy and had not secured stable employment yet. Option 2
seem the safer and easier option and I decided to go with that option, but I
was feeling bad about myself for not having the papers to keep doing what I had
been doing over the past 12 years. I know now that was her way to keep me
quiet. I really wanted and needed to keep working here, and I did not share my
situation with many others. I was very frustrated, but kept my frustration to
myself.
After the Febuary board meeting I was approached by Toni and the staff to find
a solution to my “compliance” and licensure dilemma. I applied for the
Community Expert License and received it in mid April of this year. I am
currently licensed through this school year with the option to re-apply for a
community license next year or apply for a provisional license. The Community
Expert License process was relatively easy and I did not have to quit as
previously stated by Toni. Again I am happy to currently be in compliance and
licensed but very frustrated and saddened by the deception of our Executive
Director throughout this process.
As hard as it was dealing with this personal problem, things really started to
get ugly when I noticed that it wasn’t a Esly/Tony problem. Toni started to
make big school related decisions on her own. She would talk in a rude,
disrespectful way to my co-workers. Day after day, it seemed her goal was to
make sure we knew she was the “director” - the one who makes decisions, the one
who can treat people the way she wants, the one never comes to classrooms to
check how the staff or the kids are doing.
We need change in leadership. I would love to be a part of the future of this
incredible school and really do hope to. For the record, I have stated to Toni
and my fellow staff that if my compliance/licensure issues ever jeopardized the
health and sustainability of the school I would step aside. I would rather
have a great school for my daughters and your children than cause any damage to
the school. Thank you so much for taking the time to hear my story and I
really do help it helps clarify and inform your opinion. Please feel free to
contact me if you have any questions.
Muchas gracias!
Hasta la victoria siempre!
Esly Giron Vargas
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Jeff Moore
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