Wayne Roustan

DELRAY BEACH — More than 50 teachers became students Thursday on a two-hour tour of historic black neighborhoods here.

Guarn Sims, principal of Village Academy – the only K-12 school in the Palm Beach County school district – organized the bus trip to show his teachers where their students were coming from. Thursday was a professional planning day for teachers.

“We are a school that’s 99 percent African-American. All of our students come from this community. A lot are low-income,” said Sims. “I wanted to provide our teachers with an understanding of some of the challenges (our students) bring to school and at the same time understand the rich history of the community where our students come from.”

Most days, many teachers go through the 9-to-5 routine of going to school and going home without ever visiting parts of the community surrounding the school, he said.

“I think sometimes we are not as in touch with the community. We just come and work and we leave,” second-grade teacher Aixa Gavilanes said.

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