Special teachers put positive punctuation point on an extraordinary school year

For many, the last day of school — school as it should be — was March 13. They just didn’t know it then.

There was hope that online learning would only be a two-week inconvenience. Maybe the coronavirus pandemic wasn’t as bad as it seemed. Then two weeks became a month. A month turned into the rest of the school year.

Wednesday marked the end of an extraordinary school year that no one could’ve predicted for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, punctuated by unrelenting mass protests across the nation.

Amy Scott never imagined she would end a 44-year teaching career like this.

“It just felt like no closure. I think that’s the tragedy of the whole year,” said Scott, who will no longer teach language arts to seniors in the International Baccalaureate program at Coral Reef Senior High.

“The year didn’t end with a bang. It ended with a whimper.”

Silence is how KIPP Miami charter schools ended their year. KIPP Sunrise Academy and KIPP Liberty Academy, located in the predominantly black areas of West Little River and Liberty City, announced Monday that there would be no school Wednesday to give teachers and families the time and space to reflect and rest.

The schools encouraged their community to run at 2:23 p.m. for Ahmaud Arbery, create a sign while safe at home at 3:14 p.m. for Breonna Taylor and stand for a moment of silence at 5:25 p.m. for George Floyd. Some shared their activism on social media.

“We hope this reinforces KIPP’s outrage at police brutality and our country’s lack of response,” wrote KIPP Executive Director Brett Kimmel in a letter to families. “We also hope this communicates our love and support for students, families, and teammates who deserve space to process. KIPP Miami does not and will not stand for injustice, and it is our obligation to work tirelessly to make our kids feel loved, valued and empowered.”

Teachers across the county went above and beyond to reassure students and celebrate another year despite not having an answer for what’s to come.

Special teachers say goodbye

Special-education teachers Jen Coco-Molina and Jacquelyn Lara couldn’t have their last day of school party at South Miami Senior High as usual, so they brought the party to their students.

They pulled up in front of Cristin Baez-Alvarez’s apartment building blasting Cristin’s favorite song. From the “mobile party” in Coco-Molina’s trunk, the teachers pulled out a goody bag just for 15-year-old Cristin: M&Ms, a daisy pen, a Disney Puppy Dog Pals coloring book and a smile balloon on a stick.

“It’s a happy balloon, like you, always smiling,” said Lara.

Cristin took the goody bag and a bite out of a red frosted Publix cupcake. She’s nonverbal, but her unflinching frosting-coated smile said it all. And what she couldn’t express, her mother said in Spanish.

“She’s emotional. She’s afraid that when she goes back upstairs, she’ll start crying,” mom Cristina Baez told Lara.

Like Coco-Molina and Lara, teachers everywhere have been adapting since the coronavirus pandemic catapulted them into online learning March 13. Wednesday was unceremoniously the last day of school for Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

But the pair couldn’t let the school year end like this. Coco-Molina teaches math and Lara teaches English and science to 11 ninth- and 10th-graders with varying disabilities. All but one of the students they visited Wednesday will have a different pair of teachers next year.

“We’re their second moms,” said Coco-Molina. “We’re not just their teachers.”

Coco-Molina’s trunk was draped with a green plastic tablecloth. There were turquoise and pink paper lanterns, shiny streamers, and a letter board read “Enjoy your summer.” Next to the goody bags were cupcakes for the students and mini-cupcakes for their families.

Teachers get a surprise

Max Ortiz waited on his front porch for his teachers with a surprise of his own. His mother made summer-themed gift bags for each teacher with beach bags, metal tumblers and makeup wipes.

And he had assignment packets to turn in to each teacher.

The 16-year-old dashed up to the car. “Hi miss! How you doing?” he said as he took a vanilla cupcake. “I’ve been good, miss. It’s been a while.”

“You have been an ideal student,” Lara said through tears. “I wish I could have you as a student for the rest of your life.”

Coco-Molina couldn’t hold back, either. “He came to us as a boy, and now he’s a freaking man,” she said. “He always needed our approval and now he’s so independent.”

Ortiz told them he wouldn’t be back to South Miami Senior High until January because of the coronavirus pandemic. This would be the last time he would see his teachers in a while.

Aisha-Safiya Allen is doing something similar this Friday. The third-grade teacher at Norwood Elementary in Miami Gardens will be visiting students’ homes to drop off gifts, including custom made T-shirts and more. She’s keeping up her tradition of taking two students out to lunch at Chili’s.

“Each year I chose something different to do with deserving students,” Allen wrote in an email. “I’ve taken students to the movies, Benihana, etc.”

Middle-school movie-making

Joshua Paolino had to move his annual eighth-grade film festival online. On Tuesday, he started a Zoom call and had students cue up the YouTube link to a compilation of their work.

The annual event usually caps his students’ time in his magnet program before they scatter off to different high schools next year. He knew that this was the last time they would all be in the same “space.”

“Darn it, I was dreading tonight,” Paolino said, choking back tears. “Again, saying goodbye is not easy. I wish we could do it in a different format.”

His students then surprised him with a video that they made and compiled of their time in his program. Paolino couldn’t believe it. He cried harder.

“Tomorrow’s your last day. Imagine that,” he told them. “Somewhat anticlimactic but again it’s been one heck of a ride. We made it here.”

Pajama party

On the last day of school, Michelle Marcus Bormann invited students to log on for a video chat to discuss their favorite books to share for summer reading. She encouraged them to dress in their pajamas, and she did, too.

The first-grade teacher at Aventura Waterways K-8 learned a thing or two herself during the pandemic.

“In all honesty, this pandemic has created a new skill set for me,” Bormann said. “I have learned many distance-learning platforms, and it has helped me to grow as an educator.”

A few of her students even ventured out to drop off gifts: cute travel pouches.

“I can use them to travel when this COVID-19 is over,” Bormann said.

This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 5:09 PM.