Written off?
Rather than write him off, the staff at Camino Nuevo got him to meet with a mental health counselor at the school. He also received tutoring everyday to catch up in math.
His mom went to the school’s group sessions for parents.
“I think it helped me because if you want to help your kid, you have to be emotionally stable, a clear mind and more positive,” she said.
Since she started counseling at the school, Ruiz lost fifty pounds and saved money to buy a reliable car.
Last year, Ruiz moved her kids 15 miles east to a house in El Monte with a tiny porch and big lemon tree. But there was no way she was changing schools.
She still drives Luis to Camino Nuevo in MacArthur Park every day on her way to work. Sometimes she’ll bring him a special treat of KFC for lunch.
A turnaround
Luis’s sixth grade teacher, Sarah Wechsler, keeps a close eye on him. She tracks even the smallest details, like how often she encourages him. She wants to make sure positive reinforcements far outpace stern talk.
Wechsler said in the last year, she’s seen Luis completely turn around and take ownership of his schoolwork.
“You want to be your own man, don’t you?” she said, smiling at Luis with encouragement.
Luis still has days where he feels unfocused, and Wechsler allows him to take breaks or move to another desk. On a recent school day, Luis chose the table facing a wall. Without distraction, he hunkered down to divide fractions.
As the school year was drawing to a close, evidence of Camino Nuevo’s work – and Luis’s - became evident in one unmistakable way: He finally reached grade level in math.
How does that make him feel?
“Proud,” he said.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misidentified Ana Ponce as a founder of Camino Nuevo and misstated its current number of campuses. KPCC regrets the errors.
Rather than write him off, the staff at Camino Nuevo got him to meet with a mental health counselor at the school. He also received tutoring everyday to catch up in math.
His mom went to the school’s group sessions for parents.
“I think it helped me because if you want to help your kid, you have to be emotionally stable, a clear mind and more positive,” she said.
Since she started counseling at the school, Ruiz lost fifty pounds and saved money to buy a reliable car.
Last year, Ruiz moved her kids 15 miles east to a house in El Monte with a tiny porch and big lemon tree. But there was no way she was changing schools.
She still drives Luis to Camino Nuevo in MacArthur Park every day on her way to work. Sometimes she’ll bring him a special treat of KFC for lunch.
A turnaround
Luis’s sixth grade teacher, Sarah Wechsler, keeps a close eye on him. She tracks even the smallest details, like how often she encourages him. She wants to make sure positive reinforcements far outpace stern talk.
Wechsler said in the last year, she’s seen Luis completely turn around and take ownership of his schoolwork.
“You want to be your own man, don’t you?” she said, smiling at Luis with encouragement.
Luis still has days where he feels unfocused, and Wechsler allows him to take breaks or move to another desk. On a recent school day, Luis chose the table facing a wall. Without distraction, he hunkered down to divide fractions.
As the school year was drawing to a close, evidence of Camino Nuevo’s work – and Luis’s - became evident in one unmistakable way: He finally reached grade level in math.
How does that make him feel?
“Proud,” he said.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misidentified Ana Ponce as a founder of Camino Nuevo and misstated its current number of campuses. KPCC regrets the errors.
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