Week 5: Obligation
This week one of my students vanished. A Mexican-American student. This is not an uncommon event at my school. Family emergencies happen and students are whisked away to Mexico, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, etc… to visit an ailing relative or whatever. However, this time was different for a couple of reasons. There was no notice. Usually the student and the family let the school know what’s going on. We heard nothing and were unable to get a hold of him for 6 days. There were rumors. Some students said he was deported or that a family member of his was. Others said that the family went back to Mexico in fear of deportation. You hear on the news that immigrants both documented and undocumented are scared but this week at school we witnessed this fear first hand. Rumors ran rampant. Students, teachers and staff tried to figure out the truth. After 6 days we finally got a text from the student. He said, everything is fine and that he will be back to school next week. No other...