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More than a building

Palomino II principal works closely with families for student success

It is a formula that scares off most veteran educators. But it’s also where principal Manny Ramirez will likely spend his last professional years before retirement.

And like his longtime faculty members, that’s exactly how he wants it.

“Very soon (I will retire). There’s a lot more to get accomplished, though,” says Ramirez, who has spent all 28 years of his education career in the Paradise Valley Unified School District, of which Palomino II is part. “I have a lot of dedicated staff. They don’t have to be here, they can be at other schools, especially the ones with a lot of experience. But they choose to be where it’s needy because they want to help.”

Ramirez is the only principal in the school’s five-year history. Palomino II was created to alleviate crowding in the original Palomino Elementary School, which served 1,300 students in grades K-6. Today, Ramirez’ campus serves a fraction of that in grades 4-6, 87 percent of who are Hispanic. Palomino II has a 95 percent attendance rate.

On his list of pre-retirement goals: the opening of a Boys and Girls Club to give the children a place to go after school and during the summer, and to get his school up to a “performing” rank.

Although school districts are not required to confirm whether students are here legally, when asked if it was safe to conclude that his student body includes an undocumented population, he responds, “You’re probably right.” However, unlike school districts in Mesa and Phoenix, where officials have attributed enrollment declines to laws targeting undocumented immigrants, Ramirez’ school experienced a slight enrollment increase this year.

Ramirez knows success is possible. He has tasted it before. Palomino II was honored with the National Title I Distinguished School Award in the area of Closing the Achievement Gap for the 2005-'06 school year. That year, AIMS scores reached into the 30s and 40s from marks that had hovered in the teens in previous years - doubling scores in one school year.

“That was a big boost in knowing our students are capable of success. The goal was and always will be student achievement and to get these kids, whatever their nationality, to be able to achieve as much as they can in the years they are here,” Ramirez says.

But Palomino has demonstrated to be more than a building where the community’s children learn math and reading for six hours, five days a week. The school was one of the first in the district to offer a free breakfast program to students, and a 21st Century grant-funded program that provides academic enrichment to students before and after school.

A partnership with Valle del Sol provides morning English classes to parents, who take them when they drop their children off for the day. Parents taking these classes started the drive leading to Palomino II hiring the district’s only school resource officer.

One morning, a group of parents called Ramirez outside to talk to him. Surrounded by 10 or 12 parents with strollers, Ramirez heard their strong concerns about gang presence and activities going on in the neighborhood and their need for increased security. The district was able to secure additional funding for the school, and Ramirez hired the officer.

“What the class has done is empowered them to be vocal with a lot of things that are going on in the school, the district and in the neighborhood,” he says.

Ramirez lives in Mesa with his wife of 28 years, Theresa, a teacher for Mesa Public Schools. He has four daughters, one of who is a photographer planning to go into the education field, and two granddaughters.

A native of Superior, Ramirez is the youngest and only son of a homemaker mother and miner father. His father always encouraged the children to go to school and pursue a career commensurate with their education.

But after graduating from Northern Arizona University with a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s degree in educational leadership, teaching jobs eluded Ramirez. He returned home and worked the mines for 2½ years before getting his first job with Paradise Valley.

The backbreaking blue-collar job is one that he still recalls fondly.

“It was a lot of hard work, but it was very fulfilling to work with the people I grew up with, the men of the community who had been in that environment since they graduated from high school. There was a lot of camaraderie. It was dangerous and hard work, but fulfilling,” Ramirez says.

However, it may not be as fulfilling as his current job, where he is passionate about his students and making sure his families understand they are on the same team.

Sometimes parents come to him with disputes or complaints that he must settle. He says he has experienced anger from Hispanic and non-Hispanic parents who use race or ethnicity as a platform for criticizing his decisions.

"There are issues (that are) going to come up with different cultures and that’s fine, but there’s always a solution. As long as you’re fair to children and fair to parents in whatever punishment you give to any child, that crosses the line between favoritism and fairness,” Ramirez says. “We let them know that we’re not here to work against you, we’re here to work with you. Whether you’re here happy or angry, at least you’re here and you’re involved.”

Ramirez credits his staff with creating a down-to-earth vibe that is non-threatening to parents, making them less hesitant to be involved at school.

“We have a really strong-based community school,” he says. “I have a lot of proud parents that are willing to get out of their comfort zone and do a little more for their children. That hasn’t happened in the past.”