I'm a retired teacher thinking about current events [View all]

I taught elementary school for over thirty years, working with kids from kindergarten all the way up to fifth grade. My schools were in diverse, economically challenged communities, and a lot of my students came from families of undocumented immigrants. I never knew for sure who was undocumented unless someone told me—and they often did. Usually, it was the parents who, after testing the waters to make sure I was trustworthy, would open up and share their situation. They wanted to be sure I wasn’t going to report them to anyone. Sometimes, older students knew about their family’s status and what it meant. They worried about their parents being taken away or their whole family having to leave everything behind.

Those parents were incredible. Almost all of them were supportive of my teaching and made it to school events and parent-teacher conferences, even if it was tough for them to understand everything the staff was saying. They worked with me to make sure their kids had the best shot at learning. Before schools started requiring background checks for volunteers, a lot of these parents even came on field trips with us.

Their kids were just as amazing. They worked so hard to get a handle on English, and only a handful ever used their struggles with the language as an academic excuse. For the most part, they were just typical elementary school kids with the usual ups and downs. And as I’ve followed their lives—thank you, Facebook—I couldn’t be prouder. Some of them have gone on to become doctors, lawyers, teachers, and business owners. A few returned to their home countries, but most stayed here in the U.S. Their kids are beautiful and seem to be thriving, raised by parents who clearly care deeply about them.

I can’t help but think about what it would be like to teach now, though. Would I have to worry about being forced to report a family’s status to authorities? Would ICE show up at the school? Are parents today missing out on school events and important conversations with teachers because they’re too afraid? How are the kids handling all of this fear?

I hate what’s happening now. It’s heartbreaking.