Posted by Communications staff on 10/13/2021
Within every immigrant are countless stories of extreme courage.
Few exemplify that better than Maria Esther Zamora, who currently teaches English Language Development (ELD) at Logan Elementary. In the early 1990s, she moved from Mexico City to Spokane as an almost 30-year-old in search of more opportunities. Throughout the difficult transition, Maria Esther kept the love of her Mexican heritage close to her heart.
“I think it was really an opportunity for me to appreciate the beautiful aspect of being an immigrant and coming from a country rich in culture and history,” she said.
Maria Esther had her share of ups and down the first few years in her new country. Meeting and marrying her husband, a Spokane native, and giving birth to two sons were certainly highlights. But despite earning a business degree from the top university in Mexico and having years of work experience, Maria Esther said it was difficult to find a job. Adapting to her new life and home was filled with struggles.
“It was very rare to find people that look like me in this community,” she said. “The process was sincerely very difficult because even though I have higher education from Mexico and was learning English as an adult, I felt like I was really living in a situation that was unknown.”
Instead of throwing in the towel, Maria Esther decided to find a new purpose in education and enrolled at Gonzaga University to get her teaching certification in Spanish and business. But even with her new certifications in hand, as well as a couple years of teaching Spanish at Gonzaga and the local community colleges under her belt, it was still challenging for Maria Esther to break into K-12 education, the place she felt she could make the biggest difference.
“After doing some research and knocking on the doors of human resources departments in the school districts,” Maria Esther said, “they told me that the best way for me to be more marketable was to get an endorsement to teach English as a second language.”
Once again, Maria Esther pulled together her savings and went back to Gonzaga to get her master’s in teaching English as a second language. Then in 1996, she got a long-term substitute job teaching Spanish at Shadle Park High School. It was not until 2003 when she finally landed a continuing contract at North Central High School, where she stayed for 15 years and back to Shadle Park for 3 more years, before coming on at Logan Elementary as an ELD instructor in the fall of 2016.
Over the last few years, Maria Esther has seen her time at Logan – whose population has a high percentage of students of color – as a great opportunity to help those in the rapidly-changing Spokane community.
“We are getting more English learners here,” she said, “and families who need advocacy and an understanding of the value of education, and it helps when they see teachers who look like themselves.”
That realization prompted Maria Esther’s next big, courageous endeavor. Last school year, she spearheaded the creation of the Spokane Future Educators of Color Consortium (SFECC), whose mission is to reduce the disparity between the number of students of color and the number of teachers of color across K-12 and higher education in Spokane County.
According to the most recent Washington State Report Card from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, schools across the state have a way to go to narrow the disparity gap, as the graph below demonstrates.
Source: Washington State Report Card (ospi.k12.wa.us)
From the get-go, Maria Esther committed to asking the tough questions to administrators and staff about what was being done to address this issue.
“I always ask, ‘What are we doing to fit the needs of this particular population, have you noticed our students changing?’” she said. “This community is not a monolingual community anymore. We have 79 languages spoken in this school district. What are we doing? What are we doing to bring more educators, more staff of color?”
Maria Esther dove into the research and found there is a profound positive impact when diverse school districts like SPS have more educators of color.
“We need to acknowledge that is does not only benefit the students of color to see themselves reflected in teachers that look like them,” she said. It also benefits all students because every one of them needs to see the wonderful experience of teachers sharing their own background knowledge, cultures, languages, and heritage.”
After weeks of planning and spreading the word to friends and colleagues at SPS, Gonzaga, and other local colleges, Maria Esther and the SFECC held its first meeting with its 25 initial members. One of those first members was Nancy Gonzales, who is a third-grade teacher at the Libby Center’s Spanish Immersion program. Before that, Nancy worked at Logan, where she was Maria Esther’s classroom neighbor.
“I was there for a couple of years, and we would work together on projects for the ELD students,” said Nancy. “My background is in bilingual education and just talking about how we could improve things for her ELD kids was great.”
As a teacher of color, Nancy says she loves giving all her students – especially those of color – a chance to bring their different cultures and upbringings into the classroom.
“I think it’s important to be able to connect and create those bridges for our students,” Nancy said. “Like, ‘What do you do at home and how can I build on top of that so we can get you into the playing field?’”
Now, nearly six months since their first meeting, membership in the SFECC has almost tripled and continues to grow. Original member Nancy Gonzales is excited for what’s to come.
“If we have educators of color in the classroom, students can see the possibilities," she said. "They don’t all have to grow up to be teachers, but at least we’re opening doors for other paths they can take and normalizing it.”
Meanwhile, Maria Esther remains focused on the task at hand: advocating for students of color.
“The important thing is that we continue the conversation and continue thinking of what we need to do next,” she said. “It’s vital for students to see us as active, important members of the community and inspire them to think, ‘if Miss Zamora was able to do it, I can do it, too.’”
If you are interested in learning more about or joining the Spokane Future Educators of Color Consortium, email Maria Esther at MariaZ@spokaneschools.org.
