Mary Reese is retired and lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. She was an elementary school teacher for eleven years before becoming a principal. She later served as assistant superintendent of schools in Charlottesville, Virginia, and associate director of the American Association of School Administrators.

College diploma and job contract in hand, I headed to my first teaching job in a small, rural, segregated school. The advice, help, and insights provided by the experienced principal and teachers that first year convinced me that teaching was indeed a good career choice. It mattered not that the "new" books they were excited about receiving turned out to be the "used" books from the white school, and that the children had to walk fairly long distances to get to school because there was no bus transportation provided for them. The belief that a new school year meant a new opportunity to help children created an unbelievable aura of new beginnings.

I later became a teacher in a segregated school in a large urban school district--a school serving students from three public housing units. Again, "new" books, except for newly adopted state textbooks, included used books from other schools. School repairs, if made at all, were taken care of after the needs of the white schools had been attended to.

One of the most powerful insights from both of these experiences was how important the teacher was to the life of the students and the community in which they lived. I taught more than the basic academic skills to students. I assumed the role of family social worker, financial advisor, and any other roles necessary to help students and their parents believe that the school was there for them. I had to convince the student and parent that getting a good education was the key to a better future. I took it as my responsibility to help them learn that segregation was only a barrier if we let it become one.

I became the principal of that urban school after ten years of teaching in it. Shortly thereafter, the school was integrated, and we became a mix of low-income black, and middle-class white students. It was bittersweet to see much of the maintenance work that had been requested and never done, suddenly being taken care of without my having to submit work order requests. It was humiliating to have white parents come and give the woodwork and cafeteria equipment "the white-glove" treatment." But it was as equally rewarding to know that their fears would be unfounded because of my belief that the school should be a clean and safe place for any student and staff member assigned there. Because we already had excellent teachers, a strong academic program, and a belief in and requirement of strong parental involvement, integration proceeded more smoothly than in some of the other schools.