She’s Not Teacher Of Year For Nothing Local Educators Inspired By Words Of Dedicated Professional
In the audience, teachers wiped their eyes. Sonya Hall, a school worker from Nespelem, Wash., shed silent tears.
She couldn’t help thinking about a boy with behavior problems who had aggravated her, made her want to give up trying to help.
There’s got to be a way to reach him, Hall thought to herself.
The speaker who inspired Hall and hundreds of other school workers to keep trying was 1994 U.S. Teacher of the Year, Sandra McBrayer.
The 35-year-old McBrayer challenged them to believe in their profession despite assaults from critics.
“We’ve become silent,” she said. “We’re not standing up to say, ‘No child will fall through the cracks, and I’m not willing to give up.”’
Irreverent and gutsy despite a bad cold, McBrayer lampooned her award and shared heart-rending stories about homeless teenagers.
McBrayer started a school for San Diego street kids in 1988. Her speech opened IDEAS ‘96, a Spokane education conference expected to draw 1,700 educators.
The conference, focusing on preventing dropouts, continues today at the Red Lion City Center.
Her audience laughed as she told how she filled out piles of forms and sat through dozens of interviews to win the award sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education.
“In those days I used to listen to my superintendent.”
Laughter.
“Think about it. (Now) I’m United States Teacher of the Year. What are they going to do? Fire me?”
She joked that all she got from the award was a set of encyclopedias in which “the Berlin Wall is still standing and Yugoslavia is one country.”
More laughs.
“What are you laughing at?” she said. “They match my textbooks in California.”
Growing serious, she told stories of a pregnant 14-year-old, a boy prostitute, an unloved overweight teenager and children who came home from school to find their parents had abandoned them.
“This isn’t another continent, another country. It’s here in America.”
A boy named Marcus with a speech impediment became one of her success stories. Other teachers silenced Marcus by telling him, “Save it for later. Write it down. We don’t have time.”
Marcus decided to stop talking completely.
McBrayer convinced him to try her school. Then she persuaded a company to donate a computer and a speech pathologist to volunteer her time.
Marcus began to laugh, then speak. He graduated and joined the Army. After his boot camp graduation ceremony, he called McBrayer’s school.
“I did it, Sandy. And I did it all for you,” he said.
She replied: “I did it, Marcus. And I did it all for you.”
, DataTimes