Hispanic Heritage Month: An A-rating is the charm for bilingual teacher

Yolanda Cantu, a third-grade math teacher at Whitney Young Jr. Elementary School, has been set to retire several times, only to be pulled back every time. When she came back from retirement the last time, the 41-year veteran pledged not to make any more attempts until her school earned an A rating.  

Cantu is now set to retire at the end of this academic year since she kept her promise to Principal Shabranda Mathis that she would not leave until they reached that A rating, which the school received for the 2024-2025 school year.

Cantu, a member of the first graduating class at Skyline High School, worked in the mid-1970s as a bilingual geriatric nurse at Parkland Hospital before becoming a teacher. Nursing was one of Cantu’s dream jobs, but it ended up being too emotional for her to stay in the profession long term. 

“I asked myself, ‘Do I want to stay in nursing?’ I was going to funerals, that’s how attached I’d get to my patients,” she said. “I remember I called my brother who was a doctor, and I said, ‘I think I want to go into bilingual education.’” 

Her brother tried to persuade her to stay, saying bilingual nurses were in demand, but she was determined to pursue teaching, her other dream job.

Cantu got a degree in elementary education with a bilingual endorsement at the former East Texas State University. Although bilingual education, a new discipline at the time, was not regarded highly then, she was not discouraged, she said. 

“I told myself I was going to teach my kids what they need to learn in their first language, and then we worked on the second language,” she said. “It was truly bilingual education.”

Once she graduated, Cantu began teaching math at James Hogg Elementary School, now New Tech Elementary School, in the early ’80s. She stayed for seven years before transferring to Leila P. Cowart Elementary School, followed by C.A. Tatum Jr., Annie Webb Blanton, and William Lipscomb elementary schools.

Then the attempts at retirement began. 

“I wanted to retire from Tatum in 2015, but Umoja Turner, who was then principal of William A. Blair Elementary School, called me and told me he needed me,” she said. “He said I had a few years left, and that he had an opening for a bilingual teacher.”

Cantu taught second-grade math at Blair for two years and, at last, she retired.

“My friend Shabranda Mathis became assistant principal at Hector P. Garcia Middle School the same year I retired, and she called me in June, ‘Can you please come and help me out?’” Cantu said. 

At first she refused, because she had never taught middle school, but Mathis insisted, calling her later in the summer. When Cantu said she could not work full-time since she had already retired, Mathis offered her part-time work. 

Mathis pulled at Cantu’s heartstrings, Cantu said, and she relented.  

“I went, and I loved it,” Cantu said. “I remember telling my husband that I missed my calling when I spent all those years teaching elementary school. I just loved teaching middle school.”

Under Cantu’s guidance, most of the eight-graders at Garcia who had never passed the STAAR test did.

“We had seven, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but we worked hard with them. It was different but fulfilling,” she said.

Then when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Cantu said she took a break from teaching to protect herself and her family. Thinking she had at long last retired, she settled into her new life. 

Mathis called again. 

“She called me saying she needed help at Whitney Young,” Cantu said. “It was an F school, and she wanted me there with her.” 

This time, Cantu didn’t think twice and told Mathis she would stay a year. She is now going on her fourth year of teaching sixth-grade math, promising Mathis she would not retire until the school raised its rating to an A.

Now that Young obtained an A-rating, Cantu joked with Mathis, ‘“I may stay just to see if we can maintain an A. I know we will.”

In the four decades she has been working with the district, Cantu said bilingual students are some of the most cariñosos—affectionate. She believes that bilingual education is more important than ever before, and she often reminds her students of it.

“Jobs for bilingual people open up so much more, and this is what I try to tell my students: don’t forget your first language because the possibilities are endless,” she said.

Cantu said she maintains contact with former students, keeping track of their lives and accomplishments. Alvaro R., a student Cantu taught at Lipscomb in the 1980s, left a lasting mark on her.

“Alvaro was abused as a child,” she said. “His dad beat him so hard it left him blind.” Cantu said. After fleeing abuse in Mexico with his mother and siblings, Alvaro discovered a latent talent for the piano at his school. 

“We had a piano at Lipscomb, and Alvaro had me take him to it,” Cantu said. “The piano teacher was there, and she played Alvaro a melody, and he picked it up right away. He learned to play by ear.”

What Cantu remembers most is that Alvaro never felt sorry for himself, and his example continues to inspire her to work hard. She often shares the story with her students. 

“I tell my kids that if Alvaro can do it, anybody can do it. I don’t want to know they just showed up. I want them to give me their all–80 and above,” she said.