The sun would just be rising when teacher Mary Acebu began her days. She’d blast music on the way to work to get energized and get to her classroom by 6:30 to prepare for her students’ arrival at 8. Often, it’d be dark by the time she headed home, sometimes with paperwork in tow.
Like so many special education teachers around the country, this was Acebu’s life for much of the 10 years she’s been teaching at Riverview Middle School, in this small, unincorporated northern California town.
“I don’t do that anymore,” she says with a laugh.
