Tony Spradlin: Committed to acceptance and diversity at Hampton-Dumont

     The day before Thanksgiving break Natalia Zamora and a group of her friends delivered balloons, a banner and a personal letter to Hampton-Dumont Principal Tony Spradlin.
     The letter, on the surface, was simple, highlighting an important moment in the students’ academic-social experience within the school district. It spoke of Spradlin’s private conversation with the students in his office about the importance of maintaining their Hispanic heritage, even when others try to quell it.
     A portion of the letter reads: “Ignore them, speak Spanish, you guys need to be grateful you are bilingual, you will have more opportunities speaking more than one language. I’m at home trying to learn Spanish.”
     But while many educators across the state and the country receive Thank You letters from students, Zamora wants people to know that she and her friends’ encouragement on behalf of Spradlin, three years ago, isn’t an isolated incident, but a part of who he is as an educator. She wants people to see the letter and know of the letter so they can see examples of Spradlin’s upstanding status as an accepting principal.
    Read the full article in the January 11 edition of the Hampton Chronicle.