Sarah Marchesi of Norwalk spent years defending wayward kids in front of New York judges before becoming a New Haven teacher. It turns out, public defender was by far the easier occupation.
You can give me the hardest, hardest judge and the greatest stakes, and it just feels as challenging, Marchesi said, sipping coffee at a New Haven Starbucks an hour before her first class of the day. You have to come in and be great every day or you shouldnt teach."
Marchesi quit the public defender scene and went to Yale to pursue teaching. As part of her program, she worked at a New Haven school. She took a history position at a magnet school focusing on arts and the humanities. When her two-year obligation was done, she opted to stay at the school.
Many of the students she teaches are economically challenged. She said up to 70 percent of the schools population qualifies for reduced-price lunches. Though some could be considered at-risk, Marchesi said on average they are in a better position than the New York youth she defended.
At risk is sort of a funny term. Its a euphemism for economically challenged or African American that people use when they dont want you to know what they are talking about. What are the criteria for being at risk? It sort of varies from community to community, Marchesi said.
Her decision to leave the public defenders office after 10 years was the result of one Pyrrhic victory after another. As the cases got tougher, she found herself fighting more and more often to keep a kid in jail for five years instead of 25.
As a teacher, she hopes to help kids before they wind up on a court docket. The work is harder, and she admits that the payout is a leap of faith. But she is happy to put in the effort. You just have to have faith that there is a reward down the road, and youll never see. You just have to believe the work you do is contributing to someones ability to make better decisions, Marchesi said.
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