Santa Rosa kindergarten teacher's journey from custodian to classroom

In fall 2009 he took a leave of absence from his custodial duties and began showing up at Luther Burbank Elementary in the morning — as a student teacher.

"It was difficult for some kids," he said of the role change. "They were kind of shocked I was in front of the class. They were calling me by my first name."

Children would approach him and say "You are an adult. Adults don't go to school," he said.

A follow-up conversation about perseverance, patience and lifelong learning inevitably followed.

"Having worked so hard, he places a high value on education, clearly. You can see that," said Leslie Maricle- Barkley, Sevilla's former colleague at Grace Hudson Elementary School in Ukiah, where Sevilla had his first full-time teaching job.

"He persisted to get to where he is and that is an important element that not everybody has in teaching," she said.

And his evolution from night janitor and adult student resonates with students, parents and colleagues, she said. "He has seen schools from different angles and is a parent himself. To me, I think that can really give him a different viewpoint of what is happening at a school and an appreciation of what is going on behind the scenes," Maricle- Barkley said.

Cook Middle School Principal Patty Turner served as principal at Burbank when Sevilla spent his nights cleaning up the messes that only elementary school students can make.

Before his shift began, Sevilla could be seen on campus quizzing teachers about lesson plans, time management or classroom structure before starting his daily duties in the quiet of an empty campus.

"He would question: 'Why are you doing this? What is the project that you are doing? Why is this on the board?'" Turner said.

"He was very observant."

Sevilla is described as a student of teaching, but colleagues also call him a perfect fit for the classroom.

"He was actually in the school environment. He appreciated the kids, the atmosphere, the students, the caring, the nurturing," Turner said of Sevilla's time as a custodian.

His transition to the front of the class was smooth, she said. "He was a natural."

He may be a natural, but Sevilla also is an anomaly.

In 2011-12, the most recent year for which figures are available, 23 percent of Sonoma County teachers were male. Latino men accounted for just 1 percent of all teachers.

Statewide, Latino men made up 5 percent of the teaching ranks.

"It's ever so needed. It's critical," Turner said of having male teachers, especially in elementary school.

In Santa Rosa City Schools, where Sevilla now works, just 13 percent of elementary school teachers in 2011-12 were men and 1 percent were Latino men.

The student population is far different.

In 2011-12, 60 percent of the district's elementary students were Latino. Districtwide, 46 percent of students in Sonoma County's largest district were Latino.

"Whether it's Santa Rosa or Napa, our teachers don't look like our kids and they haven't had the same experiences as our kids," Napa Unified's Cosca said. "I think it's important because we need to have models that look like them so that they can say, 'Hey, he did it. I can do it, too.'"

"We make decisions about what kids need and sometimes if we haven't walked in their shoes, sometimes it's hard to know exactly what they need," he said.

In his years in and around schools, Sevilla saw there was a dearth of Latino men in the halls and in front of classes.

"I didn't see a lot of Hispanic male role models in the primary grades," he said. "There was always that male role model that was missing. I thought, 'Hey, these kids need to have a model.'"

Sevilla, who plays soft music in English and Spanish while his students work, said he harkens back to his own time as a young student to find strategies for dealing with the kinetic energy of elementary school students.

"I'm very calm in my class," he said. "But when I was small, their age, I had a lot of answers. I think I tested my teachers' patience."

After two years of taking substitute gigs while waiting for the right job offer, Sevilla signed on with the dual-language Spanish-immersion program in Ukiah for the 2012-13 school year.

It was only the hour commute that made him look elsewhere for the current year, he said. He got an offer to be in the first class of teachers at Cesar Chavez, but he also had an offer to return to Burbank, where he had spent so many years as custodian.

He lost sleep over the decision, Monica Sevilla said.

He said chose Cesar Chavez because he wanted to grow a program from scratch and because he believes teaching children multiple languages can help communities come together.

"When you learn a language, people feel you know their culture," he said.

Sevilla doesn't have to reach back too far in his own history to remember feelings of being disconnected at school because of language.

"Some of our parents, they don't know how they can be of service to our schools," he said. "Here they can do that, they feel empowered."

Cesar Chavez Language Academy Principal Anna Guzman named Sevilla the school's lead teacher in August when it opened its doors to 66 kindergartners for the first time.

It is a role that has elevated importance not only because the school is in its first year, but also because Guzman's duties as principal and as district director of charter schools take her away from campus more than is typical.

"(He's) the holy grail — a man who teaches kindergarten," Guzman said. "He's a true find for Santa Rosa City Schools as a teacher."

"He's an incredible role model for all kids," she said. "He walks the walk."

Sevilla is much more understated about his accomplishments. His degree, his career, "is to honor my parents," he said. "You made sacrifices, so now I'll make sacrifices for you, to get this done."

Staff Writer Kerry Benefield writes an education blog at extracredit.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. She can be reached at 526-8671, kerry.benefield@press democrat.com or on Twitter @benefield.