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July/August 2010
“You know, some people have a great teacher who inspires them,” she explains. “In my case, I had the worst English teacher ever.” As a teenager in sultry Houston, Goka attended public high school without the benefit of air-conditioning. Her English classroom had only two fans, and when the teacher arrived (“always late!”) she pointed both fans directly at herself, away from the students. Sweat pouring down her back, Goka listened in fury to the teacher patting down papers on her desk to prevent them from blowing in the breeze. Even worse, the teacher was “very traditional and boring, not interactive at all.” Young Goka resolved to do things differently. Goka’s first job in education was teaching English at Cullen Junior High in Houston’s Third Ward. In her first year at Cullen, the student council president pulled a knife on the principal and students rioted on campus. Those early years taught her lifelong lessons. “One day I would come in and ask, ‘Where’s Michael?’ And no one would know; we’d never see him again,” she says. “So, I learned that I had to give them something worthy every day, because I maybe would not see them again. It made a strong impression on my teaching. Every day they had to take home something worthwhile.” After Cullen, Goka taught in New Caney ISD, where “boys didn’t always come to school during deer season.” Then she taught in Liberty ISD, where she built up a successful high school debate and speech program. Upon relocating to Austin, Goka served as an academic dean at St. Michael’s Catholic Academy. She assumed she would return to the classroom eventually, but being an administrator gave her the opportunity to reach more students. Goka muses: “Teaching can be narrow; you might see only English and not see the sciences — the big picture.” Goka applies her goal to reach every student at Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, which is the second Texas public school to open its doors exclusively to girls. The school opened to sixth and seventh graders in the fall of 2007 and will add a grade every year until the first class graduates in 2013. For Goka, the benefits of a girls’ only campus became apparent when, as a young mother, she read David and Myra Sadker’s “Failing at Fairness: How Our Schools Cheat Girls.” Programs at the Ann Richards School are designed to create an inspiring and supportive environment for girls to reach their full potential in every area, including health, athletics, math and science. Learning is “collaborative, not competitive”; students sit at tables, instead of individual desks, to promote sharing information. Goka says students and staff “live and breathe” the Ann Richards mission, which is “to prepare young women to attend and graduate from college, commit to a healthy and well-balanced lifestyle, lead with courage and compassion, and solve problems creatively and ethically in support of our global community.” It’s a mission they recite each morning along with the pledges to the U.S. and Texas flags. Goka’s personal approach to education — reaching every student, every day — is immediately evident to a visitor of the Ann Richards School. As the principal walks through the cafeteria, girls run up eagerly to hug her, hold hands and share stories. At the end of each semester, Goka and the entire teaching staff meet to read the names of all the students at the school and discuss any issues raised with each child. The tradition keeps the focus on individual relationships with every student, even as the school grows. With an eye on growth, each spring Goka visits all 79 elementary schools in Austin ISD to talk to girls about attending Ann Richards. “We need to get them on board with the Ann Richards mission. Why else would a girl get up at 5:30 in the morning to get on a bus at 6:30 and come to school?” With Goka at the helm, it’s easy to see why they do.
SARAH ORMAN is a school district attorney and writer in Austin. |
For Jeanne Goka, the principal of Austin ISD’s Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, the inspiration to pursue a career in education came from an unexpected source.