While most kids were counting down to the last day of school, Yolanda Caban was dreading it. “What am I going to do for the summertime?” she asks, only half-kidding. “I’m not going to see my babies until September!”
Yolanda is a lunch monitor or “lunch mom” at Kenny Elementary School in Dorchester. Technically, it’s a part time position. But Yolanda also works-three days a week-in the before-school program. In that early period, she often plays “hair salon” with students who may have had to rush out of the house. She transforms “bed head” into stylish ponytails, buns, and braids. She describes herself as “a plain girl who does her own hair” and who enjoys helping students learn to do theirs. “It also helps out their moms,” she adds.
Breakfast Club, birthday program
Yolanda hosts a Breakfast Club on Friday mornings, spearheads a birthday program, and created a popular school store. Students earn Lunch Squad Paws (they’re the Kenny Wildcats) for good behavior, respect, and empathy. Once a month, they spend the Paws they have saved at a “store” stocked with chips, candies, stuffed animals, water bottles, socks and more. “I didn’t come up with a lot of things,” Yolanda explains, recalling her childhood. She tries to address disparities among the students-particularly when they share a friend group. “One child may have more than another child. So as an adult here at the Kenny, I have to make sure-if I have the resources-why not make a child happy?”
Making children happy seems to come naturally to Yolanda who constantly considers how to engage and motivate them. Principal Shereka King praises the tone Yolanda sets for the whole school. “I think that’s what makes her stand out,” King said. “She’s a creative soul and she pours so much love into our school community.”…