The Education of Richard Beck 1978-1988

 The Education of Richard Beck 1978-1988

Back in 1988, I was hired by the WCASD to be the ESL (English as a Second Language) Coordinator. ESL programs help non-English speaking kids learn English. At the time, I was 33 years old and had about ten years experience teaching ESL from the elementary to the adult level. I had taught adults for an organization called Farmworkers Opportunity in Kennett Square. Farmworkers Opportunity was out of Rochester, New York. I had also been an ESL Tutor for the Coatesville School District. Ann Oldsey was my supervisor. Her husband, Bernard Oldsey, was one of my professors at West Chester University. I credit him for giving me a deep understanding of how to critique literature. With this knowledge, I was able to transfer what I knew of literary criticism to social and political criticism. Working for the Migrant Education Program I had worked in the Kennett Square, Oxford, Avon Grove and Unionville. Marta Velasquez Loescher was my supervisor. I gained a great amount of knowledge about Puerto Rican culture by working with Marta.

Dr. Hewlett, the WCASD Human Resources Director (back then known as the Personnel Director) approached me at Immaculata College and told me that he needed someone to organize the ESL program by defining what an ESL student was. Hewlett and I sat on the HEOP Board. HEOP stood for the Higher Education Opportunity Program. It was a program at Immaculata that assisted minority girls and girls from low income families get into Immaculata. I had actually met Dr. Hewlett for the first time at Marta Velasquez Loescher home in West Chester.

According to Hewlett, too many kids because they were Hispanic were being excluded from the regular classroom and placed in ESL even though they were proficient in English. One real bad thing for the kids and for the reputation of the school district was that the kids weren't earning enough credits to graduate and hence dropping out. Some were even being bused to what was called ESL schools. Some parents objected to this.

Hewlett needed a gatekeeper. My philosophy had always been that the ultimate success of any student comes from being in the regular classroom not from a special program. I would have rather erred on the side of inclusion rather than exclusion. Many regular classroom teachers where I had taught didn't agree with me. They felt that students with limited English proficiency were a burden to them. The problem was that as soon as they saw a Hispanic kid they would label them as limited English speaking. These kids were being instrumentalized by both the school districts and the ESL/Bilingual programs that served them. The more kids in ESL/Bilingual programs the greater the perceived need hence this justified greater funding for the special program.

I had come to the WCASD from the Migrant Education Program, an Intermediate Unit program. I had taught in Southern Chester County for Migrant Education up until November 1987. I resigned after having an incident with a building principal and enrolled at Temple in a doctoral program. Dr. Hewlett knew the principal with whom I had had difficulty having been with him in the same cadre of doctoral students at Penn. He told me he was aware of what happened and he was aware of my reputation. He said he needed someone who would stand up for kids. At the time I was being courted by the Lancaster City school district as well. I had already interviewed for a high school position there and been hired accept for signing a contract. They too needed a strong person, preferably a White man who could be a positive example for the other White teachers, to stand up for kids against the "old guard." That's how it was framed to me.

At that time, language minority students were not embraced in schools and my efforts to provide them an education were often met with hostility. IEP's and 504's introduced in 1975 were just taking hold in school districts and teachers were feeling overwhelmed. I was familiar with the difficult task I would be undertaking if I accepted either Hewlett's offer or Lancaster's. When I worked in Southern Chester County, I was asked more than once what my motives were since I was a White man helping "those" people. I never mentioned to them that my mother never finished sixth grade and was functionally illiterate. I had first hand knowledge of what it was like for someone to have no voice. My experience in Southern Chester County tempered my metal in preparation for my job in West Chester.

I was introduced to identity politics before there was such a thing as identity politics. I never imagined that I would receive the same hostility from the people for whom I was advocating as the people gave me who were placing obstacles in my way for providing an education to primarily Puerto Rican and Mexican kids in Southern Chester County. I was naive. Not all so-called community leaders have the best interest of their people in mind.

I was hired by a Black man, Dr. John Hewlett who always reminded me that he hired the best person for any job. Prior to Dr. Hewlett becoming the Human Resources Director, the ESL Coordinator position had been a pigeon-hole for a Hispanic. The majority of the kids in the program were Hispanic, but the district demographics were changing rapidly as affordable housing was becoming scarce in the Borough. The language minority population in the district was becoming more diverse. When I left the ESL program in 2000, there were well over 100 languages spoken in the district.

After about two months as coordinator, I met my future wife and my stepdaughter at a community meeting at El Centro Guayacan on Matlack Street. We began dating. She lived with her sister in Bolmar Street Apartments; low income housing. I still lived at home on our family tree farm in East Fallowfield Township outside of Coatesville. I was 33 years old, had plenty of space, and never thought about launching. I had a rural perspective on family and what it meant to be independent. Launching was not one of my constructs. In this way I had much the same worldview as Hispanic males who tend to remain with their parents until they marry. I would work on the family tree farm until 1993.

My future wife was from Puerto Rico and had fled an abusive husband. She was still married when we began dating; a point that many made sure was made public. Some professionals in the school district and the "community" who resented me for "taking" the ESL Coordinator position met with the school district superintendent while I was out of the district at a conference in Milwaukee. They told him that I was seeing a "young" married woman from "the community"; and living with her.

When I returned from Milwaukee, I was called into Bob Fithian's office, the assistant to the superintendent and my boss. Bob Fithian was a legendary football coach from Sun Valley High School. He had followed his assistant coach Tom Kent to West Chester to become his assistant. Bob Fithian taught me more about human nature than any philosopher I had ever read. Bob was fair and forgiving. I can say that he was the best boss I have ever had.

My future wife at the time was 35 years old. The superintendent had the conception that my future wife was much, much younger based upon the comments from the "coup" group, my boss's words; and I was not living with her but rather I had rented her an apartment at Hillside Apartments in Caln Township in order to move her and her daughter out of La Loma, Everhart Apartments where she had moved with her brother. La Loma was an apartment complex that was not a place you wanted to live unless you had to.

Bob Fithian said, "While you were away there was a coup. They claim you are living with a young, married Puerto Rican woman from the community."

I said, "I am living with a woman." His eyebrows lifted. "I'm not sure if she's Puerto Rican. I've never asked her. You know, but I've always had my doubts."

Bob looked at me puzzled and asked, "What do you mean?"

"It's my mother," I said. "I live with my mother. I've always had my suspicions about her. As soon as I get home, I'll ask her."

Bob and I had a good laugh as if we were from the old boys' club. The superintendent, Tom Kent, came into Bob's office saying something about a cabinet meeting that afternoon. I've always suspected that he was listening. I saw Bob as riding shotgun for Tom.

Bob said, "You know, he, referring to the superintendent Tom Kent, stood up for you. He said that he didn't care if Richard Beck tied wine bottles around his neck and laid in the gutter. As long as he does his job, I don't care."

I said, "Wow. That's great."

Bob said, "Don't get the wrong idea. Neither of us think you are the right person for the job. However, John [Hewlett] seems to think you are so we have to go along with him."

"Then why did he defend me?" I asked.

"Because if we let them get rid of you, who will they want to get rid of next?" Bob said.