PAYING FORWARD Brentwood’s “Man of the Year” Describes His Life of Service
	OCTOBER 2005

by Ike Monanez
Photos by Russell Byrne

As a young boy I spent the years of WWII with my grandmother. Besides my mom, grandma had four boys all of whom were in the service during the war — three sailors and a soldier. Grandma would read Bible stories to me and take me to a Spanish-speaking Methodist Church.

At that time grandma had been a widow for many years and I can remember her pointing out to me all the people who had helped her through the years of her widowhood. She talked about such people as the vendor who had brought her leftover vegetables, schoolteachers who had helped my uncles to develop in mind and character, and a school principal who had helped grandma feed and clothe her boys. Grandma was always grateful for what she received and she instilled in me a sense of gratitude.

“When you grow up, Isaac,” she told me, “I want you to learn to help others as so many people have helped us.”

I decided in high school that I would pay forward the blessings that had been given to us by becoming a schoolteacher. I graduated from Arizona State in May 1960. After my service to Uncle Sam was complete, I became a teacher with the Mt. Diablo School District and during my ninth year had a lot of experience at Bel Aire Elementary in Bay Point teaching Hispanics, African-Americans, Filipinos, and some Caucasians. A lot of cross-cultural things were going on, but everything was done in English. My Spanish began to slip away from me.

Becoming Amigos Together
Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act opened up opportunities for bilingual teachers across America. In 1971, I became part of Brentwood Elementary School District’s bilingual program, called Project Amigos, which helped Spanish-speaking families to connect with public schools and learn to understand and to appreciate their culture.

I developed a real passion for bringing the Hispanic community into the mainstream of public education. At the beginning of each year I would get the class list of incoming students and would visit in the homes of all the students who were going to be in my classroom. I greatly enjoyed these home visits. They were really effective in helping me to establish a rapport with the parents, as well as getting the message to the students, “I’m so glad that you’re going to be in my classroom!” Enthusiasm is infectious and I wanted my incoming students to look forward to school as much as I was looking forward to it!

Those home visits always set the tone for the entire year. Discipline problems were almost nil, because I could say to a student on the verge of some rebellious act, “Remember what your dad said I should do if there was any problem, Juan? He said that I should call him. Do you want me to call your dad, Juan?”

It always turned out that “Juan” never wanted me to call his dad.

I eventually became a principal at Garin School and was able to convince one of my teachers, Emil Geddes, to do home visits. Many years later Emil told me, “Those home visits were the best thing I ever did. I still occasionally run into some of those kids, who are now grown up, and they will ask me, ‘Remember, Mr. Geddes when you visited my home?’”

I imagine that the visits that Emil and I conducted in their homes became turning points in the lives of some of those children. Decades later they still look back to a visit made to their family by their schoolteacher as one of the unforgettable events in their lives. Who could imagine the positive impact that those simple visits might have made?

The admirable idea behind Project Amigos was to develop both bilingual and bicultural knowledge and understanding in our students. We created classes composed of half English-speaking and half limited-English Hispanic students. Children were paired off so that the Anglo student and the Hispanic student could work on learning each other’s language.

I spent 13 years as principal of the Garin School. I decided to go back into the classroom for a few years before retirement. I had come in as a teacher and made up my mind that I wanted to go out as a teacher. Besides that, the district had received another five-year bilingual grant. I designed and conducted that program, trying to incorporate lessons I had learned in the past. After the five years for the grant ended I taught 2nd and 3rd grade for a year and then retired in 1994.

Retirement as a Second Career
Retirement turned out to be just the beginning of my second life of service to the Brentwood community. In 1995 my colleagues talked me into running for the school board of the Brentwood Union School District. I was elected on the same ballot that reelected Emil Geddes. I served on the school board for five years. During that time we built the new Brentwood Elementary campus and the Loma Vista School. They named the library at the Loma Vista School after me. I’ve always considered the education of children to be supremely important so that having a library named in my honor was an honor indeed!

I became involved in some non-profit organizations. I worked for the creation of Sycamore One, for example, which was a joint venture between Christian Church Homes, HUD, and the City of Brentwood to create an attractive low rent senior citizen community. I’m still involved in the Sycamore program. The ribbon cutting for the second unit took place in August.

I helped with the Brentwood Union School District Education Foundation and felt led to establish the Isaac Montanez Family Scholarship Fund to give awards to graduating Hispanic students from Liberty High. We gave 12 awards in six years. I thank the good Lord for how people responded. I also became involved with Johnnie Rodriguez’ “One Day at a Time,” which is designed to help kids stay out of gangs, off of drugs, and improve their grades in school, and I played a role in bringing the new Shepherd’s Gate facility to Brentwood.

My real passion these days is the Village Community Resource Center. My main involvement is with the center’s after-school Academy. I’ve been tutoring children, listening to them, helping them with their homework, and carrying out liaison tasks with the schools they attend. Many of the children we work with on a daily basis are really making progress. Margo Olson, Principal of Brentwood Elementary and Betty Dailey at Garin School are especially supportive of the Village Community Resource Center because they can see positive results in the lives of the people we work with.

I’m also involved in parent training, helping inform parents about their parental rights concerning school education. I’m encouraging them to get involved with their children’s education and doing things like showing up at PTAs and reading to their children at home. I also do translating and interpreting, as necessary.

I enjoy going to the center and trying to be a role model to the children and the parents who come. As a result of the Village Community Resource Center, the involvement of the Hispanic community in the education of their children is improving. Parents are no longer required to be fluent in English. All they have to do is to simply demonstrate that they care about their children’s education. If parents will simply come to school once in a while, the results are amazing.

Another thing we do at the center is to contract with John Muir/Mt. Diablo Health System. For several years they’ve been setting up a mobile health unit in front of the community center every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. People can get free medical assessments, medical services, and health care. The doctors and nurses staff this on their own time. We also make contacts so people coming to the center can receive other health services. We do such things as helping them fill out forms to use the services of the state’s Healthy Families Program.

Claudia Lomeli is the center’s director and has blessed us with her presence since her first day on the job. She helps people sign up for insurance, get started with citizenship paperwork, fill out Social Security forms, provide proof of residency, fill out employment forms, and provides a host of other services. Every Friday the center carries out clothing distribution. We also go out to farm camps a couple times a year and distribute clothing to workers. We distribute bread and food we receive as surplus from area markets to needy families. The center periodically sponsors family activities that are effective means of creating interest, getting people involved in the program, and developing a sense of community.

I’m glad I was called and gifted to be a schoolteacher because everyone needs an education to be able to read, write, and especially to think. I want to see all children succeed; I want to do everything I can to help them become productive citizens. I’m paying forward the gifts and opportunities that I have been given. When I was elected Brentwood’s Man of the Year many of my children said, “Mr. M! I saw your picture in the paper!” They were delighted to see someone in the paper whom they knew. I would laugh with them and then say, “That could be you 10 or 20 years from now. Just get your education.”

I’m a faith-based volunteer. I do this because of my faith in God that teaches me to serve others. As long as I can I’m going to keep doing this — reaching out to the entire community. We help everyone we can, not just other people like ourselves. We lift the whole community.

Someday I’ll see grandma again and tell her about my life and about how I’ve been paying forward the things that the good Lord and generous people gave to our family to help us thrive, just as she told me I must. She’ll laugh with delight, I know. One of my heavenly joys will be to have lived a life that made my grandma pleased.

Anyone can get involved in making the world a better place; just see a need and respond. If you can’t see any need from where you are now then come on down to the Village Resource Center. We’ll point out enough needs to keep you doing good in this world for the rest of your life!