Tell Us About 10.2024: Schooldays 2.0

Tell Us About

 

Tell Us About (TUA) is a global writing challenge where bloggers from all around the planet respond to a different prompt on the third Thursday of each month.  I joined the group early in 2023 and so appreciated the invite to do so, and the opportunities to do some creative writing on my blog.

You can find my other TUA posts here:

Tell Us About –

• Play
• Scent
• Gardens and Gardening
• Ways I’m a Curiosity
• Travel
• Imagination
• my theme choice for September, Legacy
• Hometowns
• Laughter
• Music to my Ears
• Beauty in my World
• Blah-blah-blogging
• Vacations:  That Trip with the Tick
• A Few of my Favorite Things

Before we wade in, just a reminder:  Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After occasionally uses affiliate links which are usually italicized.  If you click or make a purchase from an italicized link provided I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you.  Thank you for your support.

Please find the places and posts where I link-up on this page.

Tell Us About 10.2024

 

I originally had the idea for this post from one of Kym’s Twenty-Six Lists.  Each month, Kym  shares a writing prompt for some kind of list, and invites others to share their own list. The lists created can be very simple or include lots of explanation; short or long; a bullet point list or essay style. And the prompt can be interpreted in anyway, depending on the amount of time bloggers have to spend, and how much background they’d like to share.  I began writing this post as a look at my long but beloved career as a school librarian.

Kym published her list in September in celebration of Labor Day.  I had planned to link up with her then but found writing about my career to be bittersweet.  While I enjoyed reminiscing about some of the happy moments – and there were so many of those – there was quite a bit of stress over the span of that 25 years.

 

1984-1985

 

Children’s Librarian, 1984-1985, Copperas Cove Public Library, Copperas Cove, Texas:

I was hired for my first library job in 1984 when I was selected to be the Children’s Librarian at Copperas Cove Public Library in Copperas Cove, Texas.  At that time, it had already been 10 years since I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree.  My (ex)husband wouldn’t allow me to apply to work fulltime in Panama so it wasn’t until we returned to the states that I was able to do so.  Started working this position 4 weeks after my first baby Brennyn was born.

We returned to Panama less than a year later so my career as a children’s librarian was short-lived.  In 1988, we were stationed at Ft. Bliss, here in El Paso.  The following fall, the girls’ father finally agreed to let me apply for a teaching position.  With only his income as an E-5 in the Army, we qualified for food stamps, for heaven sake.  It was about time!!

I applied to be an art teacher but the district had a shortage of librarians.  With my (more than a) minor in Library Science, the man at Human Resources asked if I would consider working as a librarian.  I said YES!!  Best decision.

1989-1991

 

High School Assistant Librarian, 1989-1991, Jefferson High School, El Paso:

I was hired as an assistant librarian because of my lack of library experience and the fact that I had been out of school for 10 years before working in my first school library.  The head librarian under whom I would be working suggested we meet for lunch a few days before school started.  We met at Leo’s Mexican Restaurant near the Jefferson High campus.  She asked me a few questions about my education and personal life and then point blank asked ‘how did you get this job?’  And before I could respond, she followed that up with a second question, ‘who did you sleep with to get this job?’ 

Our relationship went downhill from there.  I was allowed to do very little more than checking books in and out and putting up bulletin boards.  I was often banished to back corner of the library because the head librarian complained that my perfume was wafting in her face.  Without my knowledge, the librarian made arrangements with the principal for my first formal observation.  She selected a class to come to the library and told me to show them a video, which of course, involved no teaching.  She set me up for failure.  But the principal saw me in the hall the day before the scheduled lesson and asked me if I was aware what the librarian had done.

 

There for the Kids

The students at Jeff were THE BEST, though.  At that time, community that fed into Jefferson was the second poorest zip code in the country.  The school was located in the Segundo Barrio of the city, on the U.S.-Mexican border.  Most of the children spoke limited English.  When the 3:30 dismissal bell rang every afternoon, many of the kids went home to extreme poverty.  Some of my best male library volunteers were members of the Diablos, Fatherless or Tularosa gangs.  And my favorite girl volunteer worked nights and weekends dancing at the Naked Harem.  It was a tough area.

After 18 months working with this woman, one afternoon she threw me the library keys and said she was transferring to a position at central office and I was on my own.  I didn’t know whether to rejoice or sit down and cry.  I asked to be allowed to interview for an elementary library position now that I had some experience under my belt.  I interviewed and was hired.

1991-2004

 

Elementary School Librarian, 1991-2004, Schuster Elementary School, El Paso:

I was so thankful to get the call that I had been hired to be the Schuster Elementary librarian. Schuster was a small school in northeast El Paso where I built my first little house.  About 11 teachers and I were hired that same fall at Schuster which made us an especially close-knit group. Schuster was a small school anyway, about 350 students and we all really worked well together. The student population dwindled to below 300 several years ago, so Schuster was closed along with several other small elementaries nearby and all of the children and most of the teachers were moved to a brand new campus.

TOY and Come Read With Me

My time at Schuster was wonderful. Brennyn and Lauren (and my stepdaughter) attended school there so we all went to school together everyday. I was nominated the campus teacher of the year, the first librarian in the district to ever receive that recognition. Then selected as 1 of the top 5 elementary teachers in the district. Surprisingly, I was the El Paso Independent School District Elementary Teacher of the Year in 1997-1998.

I also helped create and hosted a school district sponsored, televised reading program for children during my tenure at Schuster. “Come Read with Me” ran for over 10 years with more than 100 episodes. This was an especially successful time in my career.

I have always loved books.  And kids.

Jenny

One of my favorite families at Schuster were the 8 children of the Molina family.  While I was librarian there, I became especially close to all 5 of the older Molinas as well as their 3 toddler-aged siblings, and their sweet mama.  When my parents visited El Paso, they would help me in the library, and they, too, became attached to some of the Schuster students.  They would help me buy Christmas presents for some of the most needy.  My favorite Molina was Jenny.  She was in the third grade when I knew her at Schuster. Jenny was a street-smart, feisty little girl who tried so hard to speak in English.

One day I realized I hadn’t seen Jenny or her brothers and sisters in a while.  It turned out their mother was arrested for trafficking drugs and the children had to move to Juarez, Mexico with their grandmother.  I thought I would never see her again.

 

08.2004-08.2005

 

High School Librarian, School-Age Parent Center/Campus for Career and Computer Technology, El Paso:

I transferred from being an elementary librarian to a high school librarian in order to make more money. High school librarians worked more days in the year and I was a single mom with 2 girls in college. But in order to be hired for a high school position, I had to ‘promise’ to get my Master’s degree in Library and Information Science. Grrrr. Money in, money out. I began work on my Master’s that fall.

The librarian before me would not let students come to the library. And on my first day, the principal came into her (now my) back office and removed a TV and DVD player, telling me I would not spend my days watching movies like my predecessor. I assure you, that would never have occurred to me. And I detest that anyone would have allowed it of the former librarian. Or that she would even try such a thing.

One of the things I set up in this library was a collection of children’s picture and board books for the expectant and new mothers to read to their babies. Every chance I had, I preached the importance of parents reading to their children. So many of these very young mothers had never been read to themselves. They didn’t have books of their own or books for their children. Through the Reading is Fundamental program, I was able to gift the mommies-to-be and their babies with books several times that year.

Jenny

A few weeks into the fall semester, a pregnant 8th grade girl walked into the library. I blinked. It was the little girl I had known at Schuster when she was in the third grade. Jenny. Her family of 8 children had been one of my favorites. They had precious little but their mother always made sure they were clean and had clean clothes. I had lost touch with Jenny 5 years before when her family had just vanished from 1 day to the next. Here she was, with a round tummy, about 5 months pregnant. I have written blog posts about my darling Jenny twice, here and here.

After Jenny’s baby was born the following spring, I lost touch with her again. I don’t think she returned to the School-Age Parent Center to finish the remainder of the school year. And I transferred back to an elementary school library when I was hired at Wainwright. But as fate (God) would have it, in a few years, Jenny would walk back into my life again.

08.2005-12.2013

 

Elementary Librarian, 2005-December, 2013, Wainwright/H.R. Moye Elementary, El Paso:

I was hired for this job on the phone the day after my partial hysterectomy in 06.2005!! Before school started that fall, the principal who hired me had been transferred for having an affair with the secretary so I never got to work with him but was thankful for the opportunity he gave me.

Wainwright Elementary

Wainwright Elementary was due to be closed at Christmas and the whole campus was moving across the street into a brand-new facility, H.R. Moye Elementary. I was tasked with getting rid of all of the books (thousands and thousands of books) in the Wainwright library before the move. HUGE JOB.

Some of the books would be moved into the new library, and they had to be boxed up. But the district refused to give me many boxes. Grrrr. Some of the books were to be destroyed, but all marks of ownership (stamps saying WAINWRIGHT LIBRARY) had to be removed from them. And other books could be given to other libraries but their records had to be updated in the district database and the marks of ownership had to be removed.

Had to do all of that. While having regular library classes. While creating orders for $200k worth of new books, shelving, carpeting, equipment, tables, chairs for the new library. We are talking dealing with the withdrawal of thousands of books. And video tapes and puppets and dusty stuffed animals and records and filmstrips. This library had not been updated in years. I was blessed with 2 wonderful women (a mommy, Marisela and the other a grandma, Susie) who volunteered to help me with the work. Angels on earth.