Charters support ancillary services

I AM a 67-year-old school social worker who retired first in 2008 after two decades as a school social worker in over a dozen different schools in the Los Lunas Public School District. Social work services there are labeled and treated as ancillary services. Another word for “ancillary” is subordinate, which essentially means “not as important.”

I retired almost 10 years ago because my ancillary service was not given the support nor opportunities such that we social workers could make the kind of difference in the lives of students that we were capable of.

I came out of retirement when I had an opportunity to work in a school — ACE Leadership charter high school — where ancillary services like social work are considered essential services, where we do make a dramatic difference, where students are recognized as whole beings with more than just academic needs.

I believe so much in ACE that I have two of my own children currently enrolled at ACE. Three years previously, my stepson, who was enrolled in a public school outside of the Albuquerque area, was failing in all his subjects. He was being bullied constantly and, despite the fact that he was able to defend himself, he just hated school. I enrolled him at ACE and he blossomed, quickly excelling in his classes and getting along well with peers. He graduated at the top of his class. One of his school projects was of the caliber that he was offered employment on the spot by an Albuquerque firm before he received his diploma.

Students at ACE are taught life skills and strategies for survival, not just the three Rs. Ask any ACE student how they found their way to this school and they will tell you that a friend or another student referred them. Ask any student why they stay at ACE and they will tell you because ACE cares. DONALD A. CHAVEZ Albuquerque