Teaching through 3 generations

Bradley Parrott, approaching his fourth year of teaching at John L. Prueitt Elementary School this August, continues a family tradition that spans three generations. Like his grandfather and father before him, he has committed to educating the children of Wasco.

Patriarch Arthur Parrott taught Spanish at Wasco High School. He was hired in 1948 and taught there until 1967, working in different capacities as an educator. When he left WHS, he was a secondary coordinator for migrant education for the Kern County Superintendent of Schools. After that, he was appointed to the Accreditation Committees for the Schools for Americans in Singapore, Bangkok, Thailand and Medan, Indonesia. He passed in 2010.

"My grandfather was a WW2 veteran and lived in Spain, where he had a scholarship and earned a degree from the University of Salamanca. He was so accomplished and never talked about it," Bradley Parrott said in an interview. "He had such an amazing life. He received an honorary doctorate from USC and traveled the world. Though he was a teacher in the '40s, it's nice to know his students still remember him."

About his father, Robert Parrott, he said, "My father taught for 31 years. He was a teacher at Karl F. Clemens Elementary. My father's favorite thing to teach was reading. He tried to instill a love of reading in his students. It's funny; he loved teaching so much that he loved coming home and telling me how good his students were doing. Whenever he had a high reader, he would get so excited to tell me how good they were doing. It just tells you how much he loved his students and how much he wanted them to succeed. I'm grateful I had a father like that.

"My grandfather had a love for the Spanish language, and even in his old age, he still tried to remain fluent in Spanish. He passed that to my father. My father helped start our Spanish ministry at the Wasco Free Will Baptist Church.

"He translated my pastor's sermons so people who couldn't understand English could still get something from the message. Also, my father wasn't just a regular teacher; he focused a lot on migrant students, which was one reason he got hired."

Bradley said it's nice growing up in a family of educators. "My grandfather never knew I was going to be a teacher. He had already passed on before I became one. I had only been a substitute for two days before my father passed away. My original plan was for him to mentor and show me how to be a good educator. But thankfully, many teachers stood in that gap and instructed me to meet those various needs found within the classroom."

Bradley was just awarded a master's degree emphasizing English language learners. He plans to continue the tradition of helping migrant students meet their educational goals.

"I tell people teaching will ruin work for you because you'll never want a different job. It's rewarding to get to experience the kids excited to see me. It's a blessing.

"Forming relationships with the students is one of the best parts of my job. It's what I center my classroom management around. There's a saying: people don't care about what you know until they know how much you care, and that's definitely true with the students."