La Voz de Seguin September 2011.pmd - La Voz Newspapers

La Voz de Guadalupe County - September, 2011Page 11change that was taking place.The sentiment was if we weregood enough to go to war, wewere good enough to eat in arestaurant in the United Statesof America.My Teaching CareerAfter I realized I was not goingto get a teaching job in Seguin, Ibegan to consider other cities. Afriend of mine named RudyAguirre, who had been myscoutmaster, encouraged me toapply for a job in the HarlendaleIndependent School District inSan Antonio, Texas. So I wentand met with thesuperintendent,Dillard Collum.After my interviewhe offered me aposition teaching5 th grade atSouthcrossJunior HighSchool.In August of1955, my wife and I moved toSan Antonio where I rented ahouse. I had a car that my in-lawshad given us. It was an olderChevrolet but it ran well and wasin good condition. As a teacher,I was assigned to teach a selfcontained 5 th grade class with anenrollment of 45 students. Theonly period I didn’t meet withthem was P.E. The rooms weresmall and did not have aircondition.The class was 95% Hispanicand 5% Anglo. I taught allsubjects including music. I foundthe students to be respectful andvery dedicated to their schoolwork. I made it a point to visit thehome of everyone of mystudents. Parents were surprisedto see me and told me thatteachers never visited theirhomes. My starting teachingsalary was $2,805 for ninemonths. (172 days) It wasn’t verymuch money so I had to look fora part time job. I found being aticket taker at Friday night footballgames helped bring a little moremoney.One of My FirstTeaching ChallengesAt the beginning of my secondyear we got a new principal. Hisname was Howard “Bull”Harris. He had been a highschool football coach. The stateof Texas hadpassed somenew lawsrequiring publicschools toprovide classesand teachers fors p e c i a leducation.One day Mr.Harris called mein and said I was his best teacher.(We had eight fifth gradeclasses.) He told me that hewanted me to teach specialeducation classes. I said, “Mr.Harris, I work and you tell mewhat you want me to do.” Heassigned me to teach a class ofmentally retarded students andhere is where the controversybegan.The school was having adeclamation contest. I had astudent named Tomas who Iencouraged to compete. Iassigned Tomas to learnverbatim the GettysburgAddress. The contest was heldseveral weeks later. After thejudges finished their reviews,they determined that Tomas hadtaken first place. SeveralSam Flores Recallsteachers complained to Mr.Harris and said that Tomasshouldn’t get the first place trophybecause he was in specialeducation. Mr. Harris conceded.When I found out that Tomaswas not going to get the trophy Iwent to see Mr. Harris. I told himthat Tomas had competed fairand square and that he shouldnot be denied just because hewas a special education student.Mr. Harris saw that I was gettingassertive and demanding and heagreed with me that Tomasdeserved that first place trophy. Iwas learning that the fight forjustice is all around us.Moving to SeguinIn 1956, my son Cesar wasborn. We were still living in SanAntonio but the rents were veryhigh. So we decided to move toSeguin and live with my in-laws.I would commute every day fromSeguin to San Antonio. Little didI know that I would do this for 35years.The 1960s were filled withmany experiences and tragedies.My sister Rebecca passed awayand left her two sons Robert, 15,and Richard, 13, with my father.My younger brother Daniel wasstill in the service. In 1963, Cesarstarted school. The schools inSeguin were zoned and Cesarwas assigned to Juan SeguinElementary School, a MexicanAmerican segregated school.This school was about 2 milesaway from the house. I neverthought much about schoolsbeing segregated but I soonrealized that there was anotherelementary school that was onlyhalf a mile from the house. It wasWeinert Elementary School.I went to see theSuperintendent, A.J.Briesemeister. I told Mr.Bresemeister that I wanted toget a transfer for Cesar so hecould go to Weinert. TheSuperintendent said that it wouldnot be possible becausestudents had to attend theschools in their zone. I thankedhim and left.The BetrayalSome weeks later, I found outthat some Anglo students in theJuan Seguin School zone weregiven transfers to other schoolsin the district. I was very upsetand angry and went back to seethe Superintendent. When Iarrived I told theSuperintendent’s secretary that Ineeded to see him. She went tohis office and told him that Iwanted a letter stating why myson could not attend WeinertElementary School.He came out and wanted toknow why I wanted a letter. I toldhim that I knew the district wasgiving Anglo students transfers toother schools. I told him it waswrong and he was discriminatingagainst my son. I told him that Iwas going to go to court and suethe school district. He becamevery alarmed and said he didwant any trouble. He told me togive him some time to speak tothe school board members. I toldhim to do what ever he neededto do, but if my son was notallowed to transfer, I would seehim in court.Several days later, he called meat work in San Antonio andasked me to come by his office.When I arrived he told me thathe had spoken to the board andthey agreed that my son couldattend Weinert ElementarySchool. I said thank you and asI was leaving, Mr. Bresemeistersaid that he did not appreciatethat I had threatened him. Iresponded by telling him that I didnot threaten him with bodily harm,I threatened him because of thedistrict’s racist policies and thatwas no threat. When he realizedthat I was angry, he told me OK,we do not want any trouble. Ireplied, neither do I and left.Ending theSegregation in theSeguin SchoolsWhen the word got out that Ihad managed to get a transfer forCesar, I got a call from EdwardEspinoza who was my wife’scousins husband. He said heknew of my son’s transfer andasked if he and five other parentscould come and talk to me. I saidsure. Edward was an Armyveteran from the Korean War. Hehad been wounded and highlydecorated for valor en combat.After the war he learned howto fly a small airplane on the G.I.Bill. The day Edward came over,he brought four men and onewoman. I only remember thenames Vincent Medina andJose Gallegos. I explained howI got Cesar’s transfer.They then told me they had allgone to see the Superintendentas well but were denied transfers.They asked me if I could helpthem and be their spokesperson.said yes. Two weeks later wewent before the Seguin schoolboard. Robert Koennecke, theschool board president askedwhat we wanted.To be continued inthe next issue of La Vozde Guadalupe County.