Teacher Recruited in Puerto Rico Quits Her Post

A Moorpark teacher who was recruited from Puerto Rico resigned after less than two months because she had trouble managing her seventh- and eighth-grade students, a school official said.

Wilda Acevedo, 41, resigned from Chaparral Middle School effective Nov. 27. Before moving her family here in late August to accept the Chaparral job, Acevedo had taught English at a community college in San Juan.

“She was used to older students,” Assistant Supt. Charles L. Smith said. “That was the basic difficulty.”

Teaching middle school “requires a lot of flexibility,” because students at that age go through difficult physical and emotional changes, Smith said.

“Peer relationships and hormones, what could be harder to handle?” Smith said.

Acevedo made the decision to resign, Smith said. School officials had offered support, including additional training from Cal Lutheran, he said.

Acevedo told school officials that she did not want to be interviewed for this article.

“It’s my understanding she’s planning to stay” on the U.S. mainland, Personnel Director Yvonne Davis said. Acevedo’s husband, 10-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son moved to Ventura County with her.

Acevedo was hired after school officials made a recruiting trip to Puerto Rico in February to help make up for the dearth of qualified bilingual teachers in California.

The trip cost the school district about $2,500, which includes plane fares and the salary costs for the two officials who spent three working days in the U.S. commonwealth.

A substitute has taught Acevedo’s five classes of mainly Mexican-American students this week. The district has identified a local bilingual teacher to replace Acevedo but has not yet offered him the job, Davis said.