Latin School of Chicago

A New Face Pamela Buchanan Miller "When I first came to the school in 1982, I didn't know anything about the Latin School of Chicago. My husband had recently transferred to the city with NBC News, and I was looking for a teaching job. When I called the school to see if they had any openings in the Math Department, I spoke with Dick Wade, who was the lower school principal at the time. He asked me about my background and experience and then invited me to come in for an interview. On the day of the interview, when I walked in and said that I was Pamela Buchanan, the receptionist just sort of froze. She was polite but seemed very surprised that I was Pamela Buchanan. I didn't know what was going on, but when I went into the principal's office he was immediately apologetic about the reception and it became apparent that no one had realized that I am African-American from our phone conversation. The interview ended up going very well, Dick Wade was wonderful, and we had a very nice dialogue. He told me that he would like to see my teaching style and asked me to come back in the coming days to teach a class. I remember there were a lot of adults in the math class I ended up teaching – the headmaster, the department chair, teachers. Afterward, Jonathan Slater told me that he thought my presentation was outstanding and offered me a contract right away. "Initially, I wasn't entirely sure that I wanted to teach at Latin School. When I walked through the halls during my interview, I didn't see anyone who looked like me. There were a few African-American students and there were people who looked like me working in the cafeteria, but during those two days I didn't see any other African-American teachers. [When Buchanan arrived at Latin in 1982 coach and counselor Jim Burnett and fourth grade teacher Jacqueline Simons were the only black faculty members at the school.] I wanted to be in a school where I could have a positive impact on children from various backgrounds, and I didn't know if Latin was the place for that. I was very honest with Mr. Slater about my concerns, and he advised me to go home and think about it. In the end, I decided to take the job because I wanted young people at Latin School to have the opportunity to see an educated AfricanAmerican woman in a professional setting, and my impression from my two days at the school was that they had limited exposure to someone like me. "From the beginning, the lower school faculty and administration were very warm and welcoming; my students were always wonderful. For the parents, the transition was more challenging. On the first day of school, the children in my class came in, and so did the parents. Almost every single child in my fifth grade homeroom had a parent there, standing at their child's desk. My immediate thought was: 'Oh my goodness this is so wonderful. Parents come in with their child on the first day of school at Latin to say hello. What a welcoming way to start the school year.' Suddenly the principal walked in. He quickly thanked the parents for coming and then told them to say farewell to their children because class was starting. When I went to see Mr. Wade later in the day, he asked me how my day was and apologized for having so many parents in the classroom at the beginning of the school day. I asked, 'Why are you apologizing?', and he told me that he was apologizing for the parents because this is not how the school year starts at Latin; parents don't usually come to the classroom with their children, especially in fifth grade. I still don't know exactly what the parents were concerned about, whether they were not accustomed to having an African-American teacher or the fact that I was teaching math. But by the next year, no parents escorted their children to my classroom on the first day of school, and I don't think Dick Wade ever felt like he had to apologize to me again. "Latin has been a wonderful experience for me and my daughter. While at times it has been challenging for some adults in the community to come to terms with Latin seeking to more broadly embrace people from many different backgrounds, the school community has grown tremendously in its acceptance of difference and the positive impact that diversity can have on learning and life for the students." – Pamela Buchanan Miller, former lower and middle school math teacher and current middle school counselor. LATI N SCHOOL OF CHI CA GO 105

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