Evette Alba remembers her Kindergarten teacher walking around, handing out worksheets, and giving her a second, Spanish-language version. Alba was designated an English Language Learner (ELL) and that was the extent of her language support. She was afraid to speak in class, for fear of seeming to curse if she said words like “beach.” Two decades later, she knew she wanted to help provide bilingual education.
“Here, our students know if they’re an ELL student or not. They understand that process and know if they need that extra support and why they need that extra support. The same goes for our Individualized Education Program (IEP) students,” says Alba, now in her fourth year as The American Dream School’s (ADS) operations manager. She credits the sense of family-faculty partnership and a transparency she finds to be unique among charter schools. “It doesn’t feel like some mystery person or some network is making these decisions and we’re running around trying to fulfill this vision. We can sit and have an actual conversation about your children, and that plays a huge role in how 'at home' we all feel.”
Alba grew up in a single-parent household in Spanish Harlem where money was tight but her mother refused to let Alba work until she finished high school, something her mother was unable to do. “My graduating high school was, for my parents, kind of like our students' graduating college is for their parents,” she says.
Following high school, Alba earned an associate's degree as she explored careers first in law enforcement and then as an early childhood teacher while working full-time to help provide for her mother and younger siblings. From the age of 18, Alba has held programmatic and operational roles in school settings with steadily growing responsibilities. “Working outside of the classroom, I get to make a larger impact that will trickle down to the magic that goes down inside of the classroom,” she says.
Alba is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree at City College of New York, and her experiences help her to be a part of ADS’s supportive ecosystem. She remembers breaking the ice with one student years ago by simply asking the student which curl product she used in her hair. This past Friday, that student, now a senior, text-messaged Alba from the City College campus, asking which parts to see as she considered the school. Recalls Alba, ”I directed her to the science building because I know she wants to be a scientist."
