Spruce Elementary's New Principal On ESL, Diversity

As South City parents and students dive into the 2012-2013 school year, Patch is publishing a series of interviews with the district's new hires.

See Patch's video interview with El Camino High's new principal, , and interviews with one of SSF High's new counselors, and a new physical education teacher, .

Here Patch sits down with Israel Castillo, the new principal at Spruce Elementary School.

Where are you from and how did you come to South City?

Originally I was born in Mexico, and migrated in second grade. That was my first experience ever going to any type of schooling. Second grade was my kindergarten experience.

My parents first migrated here and worked in restaurants. Within a year, they decided to leave to valley. The cost of living was a little more here, so I ended up in Fresno.

What is your professional background?

I taught for seven years in Fresno and Madera. I was an instructional aid before becoming a teacher. Then I was a teacher for seven years, and then became an administrator for the last six years. In Fresno at the county office of education I was a vice principal for four years and principal for one year. 

What makes you excited to work in South City?

The diversity. I have two children of my own. They’re juniors in high school. The richness in culture here in South City is extraordinary. I know that sometimes many people say "oh they’re Mexican." But there's more than Mexicans. It’s Latinos, and there are so many different cultures within the Latino population. It’s great to embrace that and share those special qualities. What brings me here more than anything is diversity.

What are the best parts and toughest parts of your job?

The best part is seeing the children. They have always enjoyed the learning process. There’s no boundaries – anybody can learn. Form personal experience, I had no schooling at all until second grade. All it took was one teacher to believe in me. Fortunately for me, that happened in fourth grade. School’s always been in my heart. That’s what brings me to education.

One of the obstacles that I see with any position is forming those bonds with not just the teachers, but the community, the student – getting to know the names. It’s a process and it takes time to gain that trust.

We have a large English learner population. They communicate very effectively but one of the things I notice as an English learner myself is the academic language. That’s the language of specific content. If you’re talking about digits, students know how to add and subtract, but when you ask them “what’s a digit" – they don’t understand. It’s not that they can’t do the math. It’s that they don’t know the terminology.

That’s something I want to focus on in all subjects.

Also, EDI, explicit directive instruction is a great process that the teachers have embraced, but I want to make sure that it’s consistent throughout the school.  Making sure that teachers teach first, then ask questions. They pick a volunteer, listen to response, then elaborate with effective feedback. Many districts are implementing that. It's constant checking for understanding on a daily basis instead of waiting for a two week period and realizing, "oh they never got this."

How was the first day of school at Spruce Elementary?

We have a lot of parents who missed enrollment date, so they’re starting that process and realize they’re missing immunization and physicals. We’ll work it through. We had quite a big line this morning, but it’s gone now [by 10 a.m.] For example, they have to have had TB shots done before entering the school. It's been really busy.

Check back for more South City Unified School District profiles this week.

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