Q & A

Santa Ana teacher Barbara Lawrence Hill

When third-grade teacher Quila Roder retired recently from Madison Elementary School in Santa Ana, she let the community in on a secret: Her real name is Barbara Lawrence Hill. When she joined the Santa Ana Unified School District 34 years ago as its first African American teacher, she recalls, she encountered enough prejudice and hostility to make her fear for the safety of her family and herself. So she moved to a different neighborhood, enrolled her children in a private school and took a new name. Hill, 60, said she had always intended to return to her real name upon retirement. She spoke with Times correspondent Jeff Kass about her career in education and her plans for the future.

Q: How does it feel to give up the name you used for so many years and finally go back to being Barbara Lawrence Hill?

A: I feel a sense of completeness. I wanted to stay in Santa Ana and finish in Santa Ana, and that’s what I did. Most people in the community--my friends--never accepted the school name anyway, so it was just a very natural transition. The artificial transition was Quila Roder.

Q: What did you achieve by changing your name?

A: It gave me a little peace in the district. Barbara Lawrence Hill had been targeted.

Q: What happened?

A: I was approached . . . after meetings, followed home, harassed and told to leave.

Q: Several times during your career, you were reprimanded for what school officials said was insubordination. In turn, you filed a number of grievances, some of which you won. Do you feel you deserved the reprimands?

A: If I thought they were fair, I wouldn’t have filed a grievance.

Q: What changes have you seen in the school district in regard to tolerance?

A: It’s different for the younger [teachers] because at least they have an avenue to vent their frustrations--we have diversity personnel who are aware of the problems and trained to handle them.

Q: How did your encounter with racism affect your teaching?

A: It gave me a great focus. I was determined that I would not let my values as a teacher be destroyed. I was always pursuing something that would enhance my career so that it would never come under scrutiny.

Q: What do you plan to do now that you’re retired?

A: I want to be able to mentor children, young adults, college students. I would like to go back to school to see what it would take to be a consultant for children who are underachievers. . . . I have to teach. It’s in my blood.