For most teenagers, the less time spent with their parents the better. School is a place where teens get a break away from home for at least 7 hours, more if you’re in sports or other activities. Majority of students’ parents don’t know most of what happens at school, but for the few students who go to school where their parents work, it can be both a blessing and a curse.
It should come as no surprise that most students who have a parent on campus keep that information on the down low. It’s something people find out or piece together on their own. Junior Pachacutec Huerta who has a mother on campus verified, “ People find out if they have her as a student. If not they’ll just ask…I embrace it though because that’s my mom.”
Alisal has 9 student and teacher family ties: Biology/AP Bio teacher Rebecca Ward and her son William Ward; Math 3/Calc teacher Juan Jose Trujillo and daughter Maria Trujillo; AVID teacher Diana Huerta and Pachacutec and Xitlali Huerta; ELD teacher Estella Guitierez and Nico Padilla; Math 3 teacher Ramiro Mata and Jatniel Mata; Biology/Chemistry teacher James Abantathie and daughter Jamie Abanathie; and lastly Gov/Econ teacher Rosalina Cabrera and daughter Melina Cabrera.
Most students wouldn’t want a parent as a teacher, and those who have gone through it have mixed reviews.
Mata, who is a junior, had his dad for Math 3+ last year and said it was like being just another student in his dad’s class. “He treated me the same, but like him being my father, he would just tell me to do my work,” Jatniel said. Sophomore Jamie Abanathie who currently has her dad for NGS1 disagreed. “I feel like he goes a lot harder on me than all his other students which is stressful at times.” Being called on by a teacher as a regular student may stir up slight anxiety, but if that teacher is your parent it can be worse. “Sometimes he’ll ask kids a question, and it’ll just be a brief question, but then he goes more deep into things on questions with me and he wants me to be more thorough with my answers,” Jamie said.
Aside from having a parent in a classroom environment, parents who work on campus are well informed, maybe even too informed, causing students to often be self conscious of their actions and language while at school even if that parent isn’t their teacher. Senior Melina Cabrera knows her mom keeps an eye on her. “She be lurking on me. She’ll be like, ‘Why are you on this?’ If I’m already finished with my work and I’m on Netflix, she’ll be like ‘Why are you on Netflix right now,’” Melina said.
Not only do students have eyes on them in person or in class, but they also have eyes on them digitally. “I can’t get away with stuff because she’s always at school, I can’t hide anything from her,” Melina said.
Even if your mom isn’t watching, you might run into them. Nico Padilla stumbled across his mom one day. “The other day I cussed hella loud. I didn’t say anything bad, but I was talking to my friends and she was walking by and she was like ‘Oh language,’” Nico said.
Regardless of feeling watched online or in person there’s always an eye around school. Even if that eye isn’t your parent, the Salinas Union High School District lets parents, even those who work off campus, know what might be going on around through a short message or phone call. Whether the message regards an emergency, event or attendance.
Having a parent on campus allows information to reach them even before the expected call or text. Estella Guitierrez mentioned staff contacting her regarding her son. “I get reminders on my cell phone and emails like every parent does, but I had her [Mrs. Garcia, the Attendance Tech] come in and say ’FYI Nico was marked absent in fourth period’ and so there was additional communication…I see it as a positive but I’m sure he might see it differently,” she said. Sure enough, Nico did contradict his mom, “It’s kind of annoying because I can’t be late to a class or else they tell her and she always blows up my phone asking why I’m late,” he said.
Most students embody and carry pride in having their parents work at the same school as them. Seeing their jobs as an advantage with slight drawbacks. “It’s more of a benefit than a negative, I can get rides from him and if I ever need a signature or something, I can just get it real quick,” Jatniel Mata said. “If I ever forget anything I can ask her to drive back and get it because she doesn’t teach after second period,” Nico Padillla said. Shared benefits resulting in the quick favors especially when the favors involved asking for money, out of school lunch, advice etc. Drawbacks mainly consist of misconceptions and dealing with outside opinions set onto their parents. “I’m not ashamed of it but then I think people think I get a special treatment or something…but I don’t,” Melina Cabrera said. “Everybody knows who he is and everybody’s like ‘Oh guess what your dad did’ like that’s kind of embarrassing,” Jamie Abanathie said.
As always there are both negatives but for the most part students look beyond the downsides and acknowledge their parents positions around school. “She has a lot of resources that can help her as a teacher and also parents so it’s beneficial,” Pachacutec Huerta said, who accepts that her mother’s role has a greater impact on students and parents than it does on himself.
While many students who don’t have relatives on campus might think that those students who do would consider it a curse, that’s not the case. With most of them collectively agreeing that sharing their school and home space with a parent isn’t as terrible as it sounds. “I like it, I get to see her more during the day and then she gets to see me progress,” Melina Cabrera said.
