In That Number

Jovanni’s Story

In high school you take an aptitude test that says like “these are the jobs you'd have,” and out of 75,000 of them, all of my results were teachers of some sort. From pre-k teacher to college instructor, some sort of instruction. But I still wasn't fully sold to the idea of it.

I’m Jovanni Ramos and I’m the co-principal at Foundation Preparatory Charter School. I grew up in northern New Jersey, about 15 miles outside of New York City and went to kindergarten through 12th grade in the same town. I had experiences with teachers early on that were very understanding, supportive and consistent. My sixth-grade teacher was like that teacher where there were high expectations and there was a belief in my abilities and my intentions, but also support and crying weren't seen as being sad. My actions were understood and she was a teacher that was willing to actually stop and listen to me. She was also an older teacher and had much more experience and years of experience as a mother. And I think now as a leader, that type of understanding about kids and those nuanced things and that patience is kind of hard to find when you're 22, 23, 24, and teaching. That's the teacher that I had and the teacher that I wanted to become - and still am trying to become - and also a teacher that I want to create or help other teachers discover that they can become. It just takes work and time.

I studied undergrad at Fordham University in New York and I was an English major and pretty much was going the route of working in publication, like magazines. But I also worked as a tutor in a school in the Bronx, PS20. After two years I was still kind of in-between “Should I teach or not?” I did work with a really great teacher at PS20 and the way that she supported students - and it was a crowded class and their were charts all over the place - the way that she works with kids, it made that space not feel crowded, it was remarkable. Later I wound up doing two service trips through Fordham and the first one was down to Aberdeen, Mississippi. It was my first time in the South. It was really interesting for me to come down to Mississippi and see a population that in my area growing up was the majority, and now in this place, they are the minority, and in situations where they may feel disenfranchised, or they may feel left out. And it was just so eye-opening to see that. I wound up joining New York City teaching fellows and got my master's in ESL Education from City College and stayed in my school for six years and loved it.

I took what I was learning and started applying to jobs in New Orleans, and Miami, due to my ESL background. I wound up getting hired here at a turnaround school in 2011. It was the toughest year because I just didn't know as much as I know. So everything was like, “everyone sit this way, walk on the lines, silent hallways, silent lunch.” And from my past, it was just so hard to be able to align with that. I understand silent lunch, but we were just in the classroom and I was doing a read aloud and so-and-so was barking on the table. So silent lunch is kind of a really tough thing right now. And they’re kids and they need to talk. And if we're going to teach them how to converse and have dialogue and exchanges with other people, it happens over meals. I was also in this program going to see other schools in LA or Memphis or other parts of the country. They’re still kids regardless of where they are from and the things that they are doing. They’re still like five and six years old and if it’s okay for kids in D.C. to talk after lunch, then why not here? I feel like at some schools here, it was all of these restrictions and boundaries because you’re pretty much scared of what kids are going to do. And they’re just kids - who really just want love. But we’re scared of them now.

There are definitely some behaviors and some things that I've seen in students, especially since I've moved here, that I didn't know what they were. I just couldn't figure out what it was, but then I realized that it is intensive trauma. And after understanding that, kind of seeing the deeper causes of it and also the unintentional ways that, as schools, we can retraumatize, I tried not to do that. Seeing a parent interact with the child also makes me think, “Well, what kind of trauma does mom have? And then what kind of trauma did grandpa go through?”

I was talking to a family member the other day who suffers from depression and mental illness and I just think about the things that she goes through as an adult and how those things manifested or what were they like when she was a child, and whoever noticed it? Were there enough trained people to notice? If we think about being able to communicate needs, there's a genetic and chemical shift that happens - and happens in boys earlier than in girls. So in boys, they're like, five or six years old, and they act out in ways that are destructive and you get the Dennis the Menace kind of thing. But what happens in females, you're in middle school and that's when you do have the language to express these things. And that's where you become like the “Mean Girl” kind of thing. That’s the scientific trajectory of it, but then there's all that grey area because kids grow up at different paces and all of that is affected by their environments, which can be home and then also school.

A lot of the acts and a lot of behaviors are not violent or aggressive towards other people, really. It's more like walking out or being really, really withdrawn to the point of not doing anything, and some defiance. A kid just walking out like that is a real sign of something deeper. Granted, that kid walking out is helpful to you because they weren't doing work. However, they did just walk out of class and that's just as bad. They're saying that, “I'm just going to leave the situation and I don't even feel any connection to the situation or to this room or to the space that I can just walk out and go. I'm not even that connected that I'm angry enough to throw the chair. I'm not even that connected enough to you that I'm gonna curse you out. I’m actually just gonna walk out because I don’t give a shit.” And that's kind of tough to swallow.

We can create this world where you can’t forget about the trauma, but we can ease it. Our kids are pretty much at school and with teachers more than they are with their families. School is a place where you can really discover yourself. It's kind of hard to do that with your family and the people that have raised you, who have imparted some of themselves in you. But at schools, there's socialization and engagement and interaction. Even beyond academics, this is their social playground. We have to be really mindful that we're teaching all those things. I’ve heard kindergarten teachers say we don’t teach much content in kindergarten, but I believe that in kindergarten, you're teaching every single moment. You are teaching them what it's like to coexist with other people. I think schools need to recognize that educators, teachers, principals, leaders, all the adults in the building need to understand that we are here to teach social engagement, social interaction, and about emotions. If we understand that, that's what we're all doing, then kids are going to want to be here, and they're going to want to learn. So even like our ops director has to get it. When the toilet is overflowing because some kid stuffed a toilet paper roll in it, what is your reaction and response to it? Because that's going to change the way they see the outside world.

We have to be intentional in the way we talk and interact with the kids. It's easy to tell an adult or teacher, “This lesson didn't go well, because this many students did x, y, z on the exit ticket,” or with an ops director, “Hey, this rollout didn't go well, because this many teachers are still confused about the dismissal procedure.” It's easy to get feedback on those sorts of things. But getting feedback on like, “Hey, the way you spoke to the child was pretty shaming. How can we fix that? What can it sound like?” is harder. Because I think everyone working in school comes in with the best intentions that they want to do right for kids. I haven’t seen anyone in school that is there to do the wrong things for kids. But we are unintentionally not doing the best things and it's hard to tell people or hard to deliver that feedback that “Hey, this wasn't the best way to talk about that or engage with that child.”

If I could have four counselors, if I got one per grade, that'd be fantastic! But the mental health professionals that we do have in the building are super, really involved. One counselor is a member of our leadership team and we did that to show teachers that this is something really important to us. It’s a priority. My co-principal and I, we can know the curriculum and we can coach you on that, but we need this other voice here that's licensed and trained in this work to really make sure we're doing it right and always getting better at it. I don't care how much money we put into curriculum and how much training and coaching, without getting teachers to focus on socio-emotional learning (SEL), it's never going to work. We're not just dealing with kids who are kids, and like every five-year-old is a five-year-old. But maybe they didn't have a life of a typical five-year-old. And at this point, like what even is typical anymore anyway? We adopted a new SEL curriculum and we might bite the bullet on the scores there, however, there are kids that have been in class more than ever. Their lives have changed. And I think that's partially because we emphasize to our teachers, “No, this is important. And this is a priority.” And teachers have understood that and they feel like, “Yeah, this is cool for me. I'm gonna understand that my class isn't filled with bad kids, and kids just need extra love in a different light.” And we don’t just have this SEL for six kids who we know have had a parent incarcerated or someone's just passed away. So-and-so who goes up every night, to their mother, has a good dinner, gets a bath - they deserve it, too, and they should be doing it together. The times of play have been the time when they all come together. That's what you do as a kid, you know how to play. Put me in a room with people I don’t know and I may already have trust issues, and on top of that, you’re putting me in this space and asking me to do work. My natural inclination as a kid is to play.

New Orleans has the blessing and the curse of being an open charter system and kids and teachers and families move a lot. We need to take a collective responsibility that this is our entire city and it's not just our school in the silo. Because next week, you don't know which family is going to come to you. They switch schools. So everyone needs to be on the same page about it. I think about our kids who had SEL last year, and now they’re somewhere else because it's closer and now they don't anymore. Did they learn enough? Do they have enough skills?

All the stuff outside, we can make it different. We can make a different place - even if it’s only for a few hours.