Spanish teacher at Stanford's East Palo Alto Academy honored by U.S. Education Secretary
Misla Barco received a surprise phone call from Arne Duncan, who personally thanked her for her commitment and dedication.
Misla Barco, a high school Spanish teacher at East Palo Alto Academy, was immediately suspicious when she was asked to be at Vice Principal Jeffrey Camarillo's office for a recruitment meeting at 7:30 a.m.
“He kept texting me, ‘Don’t be late. Don’t be late,’” Barco recalled. “I was thinking, this isn’t for recruitment. I was so worried.”
The nine-year veteran of the academy, a charter school operated by Stanford’s School of Education, was, indeed, in for a surprise.
When she arrived at Camarillo’s office, she was handed the phone.
“I wondered if I was in trouble. I took the phone and this person said, ‘Hi Misla.’ I said, ‘Hi,’” she recounted. “‘This is Arne Duncan, secretary of education. Do you know who I am?’”
