
Educators came out to PBS Wisconsin for a special screening of “Profe,” a documentary made by Twin Cities PBS.
On Sept. 16, attendees, primarily made up of Latino educators in Wisconsin, came together to see efforts to make Saint Paul, Minn., schools address achievement gaps. The documentary spanned over a year on three longtime Latina educators who work in charter schools. The three experienced a lifetime of issues within education for Latinos and aimed to bring a more equitable environment to their communities.
The producer and director, Sergio Mata’u Rapu, sought to find the struggles of cultural loss in education — which drew him towards efforts of the three St. Paul educators. The documentary follows Romana Arreguín de Rosales, Norma C. Garcés and Katie Groh de Aviña. All experienced issues with education and battled to find their paths. All went on to pave efforts for culturally informed education through charter schools in Minnesota.
In the process of filming, Rapu gained the trust and confidence of the educators on an upcoming contract renewal for accreditation.
“We didn’t understand the complexity around the St. Thomas accreditation authorization process,” Rapu said. “I remember a very tense Zoom phone call with all of us where they were concerned about whether there should be cameras or not when this inspection happened. Norma clearly just said, ‘They have to be there. We have to show what our life is like.’”
The documentary primarily dove into Academia Cesar Chavez, a dual-language Spanish-English charter school. The school receives accreditation from the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul. Tensions were high as worries for contract renewal were uncertain. Without the contract renewal, Academia Cesar Chavez would lose its ability to operate.
Academia Cesar Chavez did receive accreditation at the end of the documentary. Rapu wanted to highlight the uncertainty of the process for both educators and students who sought culturally competent education — and the importance of protecting what schools like Academia Cesar Chavez do.
“This is what it is to be in a charter school,” Rapu said. “Me, as a parent of two young kids, I don’t understand what their world is like in school. I barely get any information from them when they get home… Through the process of making this film, I realized that I’m really co-parenting with my children’s teachers.”
The screening was brought to Wisconsin at the request of Oscar Mireles, executive director of Omega School and board member for PBS Wisconsin. After he went to St. Paul for the initial screening, he realized the efforts in Minnesota were similar to those of his own and those of other Latino educators.
(Photo by Omar Waheed)
Three Wisconsin Latino educators were awarded for their leadership and efforts in education in the same vein as “Profe.” Awards were distributed by Latinos Organizing for Understanding and Development (LOUD), a statewide initiative that promotes collaboration between Latino arts and service organizations founded by Mireles.
Bryan Grau, a multilingual teacher in Sun Prairie Area School District; Dr. Armando Ibarra, a UW-Madison professor at the school of workers who holds an appointment with Chicano and Latino studies at the university; and Silvia Gomez de Soriano, a bilingual resource specialist at Madison Metro School District were highlighted for their continued efforts in educational leadership.
“When we look at the Latino population, 24-25% of them are students. When I think about things like that, it just blows my mind,” Grau said. “What does that mean? That means that we have to look at resources, and the resources that are used to fill the educational needs of these students, across the board, all the way from pre-K-undergraduate seniors.”
Mireles draws parallels between Minnesota’s educational woes and Wisconsin’s — a reason why he wanted to have a screening of “Profe” here.
The two states have significant achievement gaps at similar rates. Both struggle with literacy rates and lower-than-average test scores for students of color. Wisconsin has taken its own approach to mending gaps.
Earlier this year, Governor Tony Evers signed Act 20 to emphasize the science of reading in public schools. Ibarra warns that it could lead to continued issues where meritocracy is rewarded as opposed to genuine teaching.
“Best practice I would say, from what I’ve learned, is that you teach kids where they are, and you use you look at them as an asset, and what they bring to school is what you teach, just like they said in the movie,” Ibarra said. “The Wisconsin Legislature passed a universal assessment for every school district. When you do stuff like that, what you’re telling school districts is this is what you have to teach to pass the test.”
He continues to say that the transition into standardized educational assessments undermines the slow progress made over the years. It is “quickly giving up” efforts of anti-racist education approaches that addressed the individual needs of students from diverse backgrounds, Ibarra said.
“This leads me to question: then what is the role of public education this day? Is it to educate and to advance communities? Or is it to marginalize and keep certain communities in place,” he said.
“Profe” is available to view on PBS Wisconsin and Twin Cities PBS for free.