I had a small portable speaker. I got the microphone. I played, “Lean on Me.”
October 15, 2026 at 11:54 a.m. EDT
By Jorge Meave
The Hechinger Report covers inequality and innovation in education to show the public how education can be improved and why it matters.
I did not wait for my start date. My official first day as director of the Del Valle Independent School District’s Disciplinary Alternative Education Program was July 22, 2015. I walked onto campus weeks before then. I knew that if I waited, we would never be ready for the first day of school.
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