Ruth Rodriguez Fay has been a major presence in Worcester’s school system and Latino community since she began teaching in the city’s schools in the 1970s. She’s been honored by The Latino History Project and Worcester Historical Museum for her contributions to the city. Last Call caught up with Rodriguez to talk about her experiences as a Dominican-American educator and her work with Worcester’s public schools over the years.
When did you first get involved with Worcester’s schools?
When I graduated from college in the ‘70s, I moved to Worcester and I started working at the first Spanish center here. It was called Port of Entry. Part of my job was to help the beginning, growing Latino community, mostly Puerto Ricans and some Cubans, and help them find jobs, but also helping children in the public schools. At the time, that was a real challenge, because there was no service for Latino students. Worcester decided to implement the Transitional Bilingual Education law a year before the statewide implementation, and because they already knew me, they offered me a job. I was the first school-community liaison working for Worcester Public Schools.
What were the early days of the bilingual education program like?
The first year of the bilingual program, I had to go to the schools and recruit students who didn’t speak English, to talk to their families and involve them in the bilingual program. Even though the state was providing the district with funding to do the program, there were some challenges with the district. Bilingual teachers were hired with no benefits or as long-term subs. We were helping the district recruit teachers, and there were a couple of great educators that came, and we interviewed them, and they were great. One of them had a doctorate in bilingual education, and when we offered to hire her, she said, “I would love to work here, but I have a family, and getting a job where I’m not going to get a salary in the summer or any benefits? No.”
You were part of a 1985 lawsuit, Lynn Hispanic Parent Advisory Committee v. Lawson, where a federal district court found that Massachusetts officials were not complying with laws that required them to provide bilingual education for Spanish-speaking students. What was that like?
We went to federal court, and we won. I worked with the parents’ council, and we loaded up two buses to Boston on the day that the trial was. The judge was so impressed to see all those parents there. He was going to rule in our favor, but I think that that solidified it.
What was the status of Worcester’s bilingual program by then?
Worcester was getting extra money for every student by the federal government for seven years. Our children were not costing the city for their schooling. It was to help the city to incorporate into their budget so they could continue to provide the services that the transitional law mandated, but they didn’t do that. After seven years, we started asking for things, and they said they didn’t have money. I asked the superintendent at the time where the money from the federal government went, and they put it in the city general fund. We were helping the city while they were taking away services.
You’ve been involved with advocacy and activism in Worcester for decades. What have you been up to recently?
I testified recently to the school committee when they were discussing policing in schools. When I first started working in Worcester’s public schools, the majority of students were white and the curriculum was great. Services … they had counseling for the students. Today, the majority of students are Latino and they have police in schools. There are very few bilingual staff within the administration. That’s one of the things I have been fighting for, and I’ve noticed along the way that there’s been some real challenges.
What racial disparities do you see in Worcester today?
During the pandemic, I got a lot of calls from parents who were having challenges with teaching their kids at home. Some of them didn’t have computers and they didn’t know what to do. It affected many of the Black and Latino students more than anything. When they say there’s an achievement gap among Black and Latino children, you know what the biggest achievement gap is? It’s that students from the Worcester public schools graduate with no knowledge of the history and contribution of indigenous, Black, Latino, or Asian people. It’s all white supremacy.
Even the MCAS is a racist test, and it’s used to deny students their graduation. I had a young man come to put my cable in, and I always start talking to young people about their school. He said, “In all my 12 years of school in Worcester, the only thing I learned was how to pass a test. They gave me a diploma, but I can’t write a simple essay.” Even students who pass the test, their first year in college, many of them need remedial education because they’re not being educated. The schools are teaching to a racist test.
You’ve traveled and met with educators around the world. Do you notice differences in language education from country to country?
I lived in Italy for a while and didn’t need to speak Italian. They spoke Spanish and English. I was a delegate to the United Nations World Conference on Women in Nairobi, and one of our friends who was a teacher took us to her home. We were chatting, and I saw her daughter in a corner doing homework, so I went up to ask her what she was doing. She was studying English. Her mom told us that in Kenya, in any public school you graduate from, you would know at least three languages: English, Swahili, and your tribal language. This is the only country that takes away language.
A friend of mine was one of the writers of Chapter 71, the bilingual education law. One of the reasons he became involved in bilingual education was that his family moved to New York when he was five years old and they put him in school. He didn’t speak English and he was traumatized by the way he was treated. It made him embarrassed, and at that tender age, he made up his mind that he would never speak Spanish again. Many of our children, they end up not speaking Spanish because they’re made to feel embarrassed. It wasn’t until he attended Harvard and took Spanish that he started thinking, “How did I do this? I could have had this.”
What might people not know about being bilingual?
I read some research from linguistic scientists who found that speaking more than one language, if there’s a history of dementia in your family, it can delay the onset by ten years. If you go back and forth between languages, the cell that would die is the one that you strengthen that way.
