With this article, we launch a regular series of reports that explore life and work in the Berkshire Hills Regional School District. We will be sharing student and staff news as well as reports about learning activity, with the goal of increasing communication between the community and its public schools.
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Editor’s note:The following was written by Sheela Clary in her capacity as a staff member of the Berkshire Hills Regional School District.
The 2024–2025 academic year is Theresa Girona’s 13th in Berkshire Hills Regional School District as a paraprofessional. Her role at W.E.B. Du Bois Middle School has evolved in that time, and she has had the chance to introduce new practices to the school. It is a family affair for the Girona family, as Theresa’s daughter Mercedes Girona is the middle school Spanish teacher. In an interview, the elder, Ms. Girona, says she got into the job, which she loves, by accident.
How did you get into working in Berkshire Hills?
I was home for 15 years with my kids. I wanted to go back to work, but I wanted a schedule where I could be with them on vacations, days off. So I just started subbing at the elementary school.
Had you worked before that?
Yes, I had worked in reader service, at Berkshire Computer, many years ago, on Pittsfield-Lenox Road. You know those little inserts in magazines where you have to fill out the questionnaire? That’s what we did. We did marketing, and we’d speak to all the people who advertised in the magazines.
I went back to school, but then I got pregnant with my daughter and I was very, very sick. Not medically sick, but I just couldn’t go to school anymore. So I had my daughter and I stayed with her, and then I had my son and stayed with him. Long story short, I started subbing, and they put you in different schools. A job opened up in September, and I started working in October.
You never worked at the high school?
No, that’s not my age group. Elementary school isn’t either, actually.
Really? Middle school is your age? They’re tough!
Absolutely. I would not want to do anything else with my days. My interest is not in the younger kids, or the older kids. It’s in this building, with these kids, who are trying to figure it out. They are vulnerable, but also powerful and kind and loving and angry. You get the whole bag, and you’re in it with them the whole time.
You can’t show up every day and pretend like you like it. This is not the kind of job where you can go through the motions and do well if your heart’s not in it. I love it.
What’s the scope of your job, what does it entail?
In the morning I have Crew, which used to be Homeroom. I have 11 kids this year in the seventh grade. They’re with me for half an hour every day. We do different things. Sometimes we have an academic day. I connect with each of them on Powerschool to see how they are doing in each subject; if there is something they didn’t do, maybe they can talk to the teacher about it. We look for organizational skills. I ask, “How is your binder? Is stuff falling out of it? Do you have 45 things folded in half in one pocket?” We work once a week in that fashion, so that the thing you got yesterday that you’re sure you never got? We try to prevent that.
How much flexibility do you have in terms of what you do with the kids?
Right now we’re reading a book, for example. “One school, one book.” We are reading “Santiago’s Road Home” [by Alexandra Diaz]. On Wednesday I read to them. Tomorrow is binder [organization] day. Friday it’s fun stuff, like “Name The Capitals,” or I put up an image of a country around the world and they have to figure out which country it is. Or we’ll do Game Day.
The whole idea of Crew is community building. In those 30 minutes, you try to let them know that they have one adult, one connection. I might not be their connection. But the most important thing is that every student has a connection with an adult in the building.
You really get connected to kids when they go through stuff. When you’re in a math class, and they need help, and they’re angry, and their head is down, and you say, “It’s ok. We can figure this out together,” and you empathize, they become connected to you. And when you have a connection with a kid, they will work for you so that they can be successful. No kid is excited to walk into a room where there’s no one they are connected to.
After crew, what happens?
I’m assigned to different classes because there are kids there who need additional supports. They might have a struggle in writing, or with math. I float to Math class, ELA, Science, Social Studies.
I’ve been doing this for many years, so I’ve learned a lot of seventh grade math. Right now we’re doing multiplying by fractions or whole numbers.
How’s the cell phone rule—no phones bell to bell—going?
It’s so much better. And I don’t hear any complaints from the kids about it. We used to have a lot more drama and disengagement, a lot less focus. I think the kids like it, because they like structure.
So your day is floating, but it’s flexible enough so that if there’s an issue in a classroom, you can get redirected there?
Yes! Another part of my job is I do all the restorative justice for the school. This means I’m supporting the sixth grade now, with groups rotating in and out, with an exploratory class. I go in, and we have a circle. At first it was outdoors, but we did have to bring them indoors because they were having a hard time. But then after a few days inside we were able to go back out again. They’re doing great with it. We have a talking piece; I pose questions, ask them to answer truthfully, from their hearts, but kindly.
And you set some expectations for them?
They set the expectations for themselves. They know what needs to happen, just sometimes it’s really hard to follow expectations. They write them down on the board. They own that class. They have to be active members and respectful participants. It’s hard work, but they respond to it.
It allows the kids to be in control of what they need to do. It’s very empowering for them.
You’ve done training in restorative justice?
Yes, first in the office and the second one here at the school. I came to the district and asked, “Can we start this?” Last year was our first year.
Who are some particular students—without using names—who stand out in your memory?
My first assignment here I was one on one with a kid who struggled so much. It was heartbreaking. I did not know what to do. I was thrown into it. I thought I could take cues from people, but I didn’t know how to support that kid.
That student taught me how to do my job. No one in this building taught me like that student. He sent me messages with his body language. The last day of school, I realized I hadn’t seen him all day, and I asked around, “Has anyone seen so-and-so?”
And they said, “Oh, he left.”
I thought, “Oh my gosh, how could he just leave? I need to find him!”
I left the building and ran across the street. He was walking on the sidewalk, eating a goldfish.
He gave me a goldfish. I think I kept it for seven years, a pretzel goldfish. I kept it until we moved houses. Every day these kids teach me about myself.
