Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/2868
T Hope Franco-Carreno for story time. The ti- tle is Cambios (“Changes”) and the cover of the booklet has a picture of a moving van on it, with a young girl looking on in dismay. When Carreno asks how many students have moved within the past year, nearly a third of the youngsters raise their hands. The bilingual students attend Fairview El- The first-graders gather around teacher ementary School in Modesto, and their com- munity has been extremely hard hit by the mortgage crisis and tough economic times. Many Fairview families have lost their homes through foreclosure or eviction. Some have lost their jobs or cannot afford the gas to commute. On some blocks near the school, for sale signs dot the lawns of nearly every second or third house. Most of the signs say “bank owned” and “foreclosure.” Carreno and other Modesto Teachers Association members at the site believe the ailing economy has created a new wave of poor that is presenting new chal- lenges for teachers. Students, they say, are traumatized by losing their homes or hav- ing friends vanish from their once tight-knit community. Parents are struggling finan- cially, and there are more household arguments about money. As a result, students are often just as stressed out as their parents. Cambios offers students a way to share their feelings and experiences in a safe setting, says Carreno, and lets teach- ers convey that they care. “They ask a lot of ques- done wrong; and that their friends may be living someplace better. We try to make it seem like it’s not a bad thing. But it’s get- ting tougher for teachers.” She has seen other changes, too. Josh Collins, Golden Valley High School tions about why their friends are gone. So we have discussions about why families sometimes have to move; how we may not like it; that it’s not anything that kids have 8 California Educator | november 2008 “More families are walking children to school, because they are trying to save on gas. More families are sharing one house and more families are living in garages. Students don’t have back-to- school clothes or new shoes anymore. I notice my chil- dren in class wearing the same thing day in and day out. And we have a harder time getting parents to join the Parents Club because they are working extra jobs and don’t have the time to get in- volved.” She hopes times will get better. “When the economy improves we can focus more on learning instead of dealing with all the extra baggage. Some students are melting down now, and it’s hard to get past that.” Reduced student population Nancy Barajas scheduled some “home visits” to meet with the parents of her sixth-grade students at the beginning of the year, and was shocked by what she saw. “I was driving through the neighbor- hood, and there were all these empty homes and ‘for sale’ signs,” says the Fairview Elementary School teacher in amazement. “Some had graffiti on them.” Not surprisingly, the empty homes are responsible for the school’s dwindling enrollment. Before the crisis hit, the school experienced rapid growth. Now it has 200 fewer students. Many students, says Top: Modesto Teachers Association member Hope Franco-Carreno teaches her bilingual class of first-grade students at Fairview Elementary School. Opposite page: Javier Green works on a kitchen design at Freedom High School in Oakley.