jill torrance / arizona daily star

Other articles by George Sánchez:

One man's cancer journey'I feel like a chemical factory,' and other stops along the treatment trail The turbulent times of Roger Pfeuffer Horne out of touch, program backers sayDebate on TUSD ethnic studies descends into shouting match TUSD Ethnic Studies targeted TUSD's No. 2 resigns, eyes Marana top job Mystery donor gives $1 million to school School arrest puts TUSD librarian on paid leave 16 students named Merit scholars; most plan to attend UA

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Richard Llamas questions whether he should have been promoted to high school after he failed a class in eighth grade.

Llamas, now 17, was one of 90 eighth-graders at Valencia Middle School, 4400 W. Irvington Road, who failed one or more core classes in 2005. In Llamas' case, it was science.

Despite the widespread failure, only 20 students — out of a class of 281 — were held back.

"I was really surprised; I didn't think I should have graduated," Llamas said. "I did want to be held back, but I also wanted to move on with my friends and all the people I grew up with."

So Llamas went to Cholla Magnet High School, 2001 W. Starr Pass Blvd. He recalls the night before school started:

"I couldn't sleep really well. I remember, it was just, 'Oh God, it's coming. It's tomorrow. It's around the corner.' "

He was afraid of not being able to handle the work, that he'd struggle. He was so nervous that his mother, Rosalinda Lopez, went with him that day to ensure he found his first class.

That year, 399 freshmen at Cholla — about 73 percent of ninth-graders — failed one or more core classes. For the second year in a row, Llamas failed a science class.

His failure, like many of his classmates', was not without warning.

When those freshmen were eighth-graders at Cholla's feeder schools — Hohokam, Maxwell and Valencia middle schools — more than 230 had failed one or more core classes at graduation.

Academics and educators agree the transition points in education, especially from eighth grade to high school, are periods marked by higher rates of failure and thus necessary points for stronger intervention and student support.

Llamas has attention-deficit disorder and says he can't keep pace with his classmates.

"It's hard for me to understand as fast as the other students," he said. "It takes me a long time. The teachers, they get frustrated with me, but I'm trying my best."

The lack of support for her son infuriates Llamas' mother.

"He has always struggled. It's not him being lazy, but that's the biggest problem we have," Lopez said. "Teachers think the students are lazy."

Llamas received attention for his disorder in elementary school, but middle school administrators put him in mainstream classes without support.

He says most teachers aren't there for him, despite his struggles. "A lot of the teachers really just pushed me on and said they knew I could do it," he said.

Now a junior, Llamas still needs to pass the AIMS test. He is enrolled in AIMS classes for all three subjects: math, reading and writing. Right now, he said, he has an F in English.

Teachers are demanding in high school, he said, so they should be demanding in middle school, too.

"I think it's their job to teach us everything and make sure we know it," he said. "I hear all my classmates saying, 'I didn't know that,' or, 'I was never taught that.' I think students should be held back in middle school. That's where it comes from."

He added that he and other students have a responsibility as well. If a teacher doesn't give enough attention or support, the student should ask for it.

"If you know you can't do it, ask. I really do think I should have spoken up for myself," he said. "I never do."

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