Two years ago, Jesus Pena was murdered in Little Rock by an unidentified man, believed to be in his early 20s. Pena was shot three times in the chest and was robbed of his cellphone, wallet and the chain he was wearing.
“What they suspect happened, somebody saw him pull out a wad of cash at Home Depot,” said Lupe Pena de Martinez, Pena’s daughter. “And a gentleman comes to the door [of the house he was working at], and he pointed the gun with my dad’s back turned.
“He lifts his shovel to defend himself and was shot three times.”
Martinez, who has worked for the Little Rock School District since 2005, said that as an educator, all she can think is, “What if that is a child I missed?”
“Is that a child who went to a school that I was working at, and we missed him?” Martinez asked. “I feel sorry for him. He was just a kid, and I can’t judge a group of people for the mistake of one.
“I have so much passion for education. We are a powerful force as educators. We can change people’s lives. If children can connect with us, we can help guide them in the right direction.
“I may never know who this kid was. I just pray that [in the future], either someone on my faculty or I will make a connection with these kids. They don’t all have to be surgeons, lawyers or astronauts, but we need to make sure that we impact children so they don’t feel like they have to murder someone to make a buck.”
Martinez was recently named the principal for the newly built East End Middle School, part of the Sheridan School District.
“We are pleased to welcome Mrs. Lupe to the Yellowjacket Nation family,” said Jerrod Williams, Sheridan School District superintendent. “She is a passionate educator with high expectations for all learners and a keen ability to build relationships. I am confident that she will make a tremendous impact in our district as the East End Middle School principal.”
Martinez has spent the past two years serving as assistant principal at Forest Park Elementary School in the Little Rock School District. Karen Henry, the current director for English for Speakers of Other Languages, or ESOL, in the Little Rock School District, has known Martinez for more than a decade.
“She’s very enthusiastic and passionate about making sure she is able to provide the best,” Henry said. “She is very diligent and a rule-follower. She follows a prescriptive approach in making sure all of her bases are covered. She comes early and stays late.
“She has a great work ethic.”
When she first started attending Little Rock McClellan High School, she refused to talk to anyone because she was determined to return to California once she turned 18. So after being at the school for a couple of days, her English teacher asked the students to write an essay on what literature means to them.
As Martinez was doing the assignment, her teacher kept coming back to her desk. When the time was up, Martinez was asked to read her essay in front of the class. After reading her essay, the entire class began to laugh.
“I was mortified,” Martinez said. “[My teacher] calms them all down and says, ‘I think you are in the wrong class.’ So she switches me to an AP class.”
After class, Martinez asked her friend why everyone was laughing at her, to which her friend replied, ‘All of us thought you didn’t speak English, and what we had written was stupid compared to your answer.’
“Lupe has a very good heart and is very compassionate,” Henry said. “She’s an immigrant from not very highly educated parents, but they had that passion and desire to realize the American dream for what it means to go to college and do better.
“She owes everything to them.”
Martinez, originally from San Diego de Alejandria, Mexico, first moved to Southern California, then moved to Arkansas 20 years ago after her dad came to her cousin’s quinceanera.
“Once upon a time, in May of 1998, my dad came to Arkansas for my cousin’s quinceanera, and my dad was in the landscaping business,” she said. “It was really tough in Southern California, and in Arkansas in May, it is green and gorgeous, and the weather is nice.
“So when he came back, he told us, ‘We could either stay here and keep struggling, or I could make a killing in Arkansas because it’s green and beautiful.’”
Martinez, who was 16 at the time, said her dad moved to Arkansas almost immediately, while she and her siblings finished the school year. Once school was over, her dad returned and packed up their possessions in a U-Haul. Her parents took her and her four younger siblings — the youngest of whom was 4 years old at the time — to the airport, while her mom and dad drove the U-Haul to Little Rock.
“They gave me one cooler with cold cuts and cheese and a thermos filled with homemade tortillas,” she said. “Imagine trying to keep [all the kids] sane on an airplane.”
Martinez said it was July 4 when they arrived in Little Rock. She said she and her siblings had to live with their cousins for a short time while her mom and dad made the trip.
“I was a total Valley girl, and I didn’t understand why my parents were doing this to me,” she said. “I’m sweating — it is horrible. My sister, who was 13, and I look at each other and burst out crying. … I was so angry to be in Arkansas.”
Flash forward to two years ago last November. Before her dad was murdered, Martinez asked her dad what his plans were after retirement, specifically, if he wanted to go back to Mexico.
“And he said, ‘The way things are with Mexico right now, I’ve got such a big mouth, I’d be killed within two weeks,’” Martinez said. “Two weeks later, he was murdered. … He sacrificed so much, and I don’t believe in coincidences, and I miss him dearly. But at the same time, coming to Arkansas was not a mistake because I don’t know if I would have had as many opportunities if he hadn’t made that choice to bring us here.”
Martinez has been with the Little Rock School District in some capacity for 20 years, having graduated from McClellan High School in 2000 as the school’s first Latina valedictorian. She earned a bachelor’s degree in early-childhood education at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2005, and in 2011, she received a master’s degree in language acquisition from UALR. As an undergrad, Martinez was a Donaghey Scholar and one of the top graduating seniors at UALR, including being named the Whitbeck Memorial Award winner.
“Having a background in language acquisition, I can successfully teach anyone from any language background,” she said. “I don’t need to speak that language. When you were born, you didn’t speak English, either. The only reason you speak it is because that was the input. The language you speak first is the language of love — whatever language people love you in.
“I don’t need to speak Vietnamese to teach you English, but I do need some really strong instructional techniques and to know how to make those great culture connections.”
Martinez did not learn English until she was 7 years old, and her parents — hammered the importance of education into her and her siblings.
“I can connect with a lot of students who may be experiencing culture clashes, and by that, I don’t necessarily mean just ethnic clashes, but also economic clashes.
“Education is geared toward the middle class, and for those who live in a low-income area, their values may not be, ‘Hey, let’s go buy a set of books,’ cause they are trying to get the electric bill paid.”
Martinez has lived in the Sheridan School District since 2015, so one of the big draws of coming to work for the district is to be somewhere where she can benefit her community.
“I feel like this is home. I don’t know how else to say it,” Martinez said. “I genuinely feel like this is where I’m supposed to be. Everything I’ve done has led up to me being here. More than anything, I will be an educator in my community, and I’m really excited about that.
“I’m excited that the kids I see when I’m out walking are the kids I have in my school. I feel like this is the right place for me to be. My whole career has led up to me being here.”
When the position at the district opened, Martinez called Henry and asked her if she should apply for it.
“I told her to just go for it,” Henry said. “Even if this is not your opportunity, you’ll never know if you don’t try. But I’ve seen her grow, sit in on interviews for prospective principals and understand that process.
“I could see her potential. When they called me to check references, I thought to myself, ‘If you don’t snatch her up, I don’t know what’s going on.’
“I hate that she left our district, but the value that she brings to Sheridan, you will experience into the future. I definitely look at this as a plus for education as a whole.”
Martinez said one of the things that stood out to her about the Sheridan School District is its motto: Inspire. Empower. Serve.
“That’s everything I believe in, because somebody inspired me,” she said. “Someone empowered me, and somebody did extra service.
“And I get so pumped to give that kind of energy to another child or to another teacher because I don’t want just good teachers. I want phenomenal ones.
“I truly believe Sheridan is primed for that. … I hope I can live up to those expectations.”
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.