Jeni Ann Flores

He was as handsome as ever. The soft round face of the little boy was gone, but I recognized that striking jaw line and the naughty twinkle in his eyes. “Of course, Mrs. Flores,” he answered in a deep voice as we hugged. I had asked him whether he still remembered me. Very few boys remember their kindergarten teacher. Donovan (not his real name) was one of my most interesting students. He was a wiggler, constantly moving and not paying attention. He showed intelligence but struggled with reading. He threw himself completely into whatever he was doing. One time I found him all by himself surrounded by markers. One eye had black circles and the left arm was also black. When I asked him what he thought he was doing, he stuck out his tongue. It was green. While I scrubbed his face and arms I threatened him with all sorts of bodily harm and warned him of a future so dark and dreary if he every did this again. I should have known better. I was less focused on Donovan’s unique qualities ...

This is the true story of Mary and Robert (not their real names), as told by a teacher. Robert walks slowly, dragging his bag through the hallway. He often gets into trouble for playing or fighting along the way. He disrupts the class by making a smart aleck remark as he enters. Mary was the same. She gets in trouble in the hallway for ‘accidentally’ bumping into somebody, taking their things, saying hurtful things. She goes to her chair quietly but when she gets there students will complain that Mary bumped their desks or took their pencil. “I’ve had these same kinds of students before, and they grew up to cause even more trouble in the school. The school even had to call the police at one time because of a fight caused by my former student whose antics had escalated to something worse,” the teacher said. “I knew I had to do something. They cannot just go through our system without anybody caring enough to reach out to them and help turn their lives around,” the teach...