A new career as volunteer

Jose Avila could rightly be considered original equipment at Joseph Casillas Elementary School.

When the Chula Vista school opened its doors nearly 16 years ago, it wasn’t long before Avila, then 64 and a newly retired civil servant, became a classroom volunteer.

“I had all this time in my life so I started to volunteer,” Avila said. “I started as a Rocket Reader volunteer to help the second graders bring up their reading level.”

Avila had retired from the Navy after more than two decades aboard ships as an electrician. The next phase of his working life was spent as a program manager at the 32nd Street Naval Station in San Diego and in far-flung ports around the world.

“I was 21 years in the Navy and 21 years in civil service. I could put in 21 years with Casillas,” he joked.

Avila, who celebrated his 80th birthday in February, chose Casillas at the time because his granddaughter was attending the school. (She is now 22 and a student at UC Davis.) Avila still has family ties at Casillas — currently, his third grandchild is in fifth grade there.

John Nelson, assistant superintendent of instructional services for the Chula Vista Elementary School District, was the first principal at Casillas. He fondly remembers Avila for his positive energy and how delighted teachers were when they learned “Grandpa Joe” would be helping out in their classroom.

“He is just a jewel,” Nelson said. “He’s been there like an institution ... the community feels he is a part of Casillas and Casillas is his home.”

Current Principal Emiko Nakamura describes Avila as her “most faithful, faithful volunteer” in a cadre of about 100 parent volunteers who give their time to the K-6 school. In addition to helping struggling students through the Rocket Readers program, Avila can be counted on to copy homework materials, assist teachers with any classroom needs and help run schoolwide activities such as the fall festival and multicultural days.

But two years ago, right before Casillas went out on winter break, a national tragedy occurred that changed the way Nakamura wanted to use Avila as a volunteer. On Dec. 14, 2012, a 20-year-old gunman fatally shot 20 children and 6 staffers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

“It was a horrific, horrific event,” Nakamura said. “The minute I got back (from winter break), I had my school resource officer do a security walk of the campus. I asked him, ‘What can I do to make us a more safe place?’”

The resource officer asked Nakamura if she had someone who could commit to being at the front gate every single day to make eye contact with families as they brought their children to school. The person would need to serve as a kind of Walmart greeter, a phenomenon that has proved to deter shoplifting in the retail giant’s stores.

“I said, ‘Yes, I think I can do that, and I know the perfect person,’” Nakamura recalled.

That perfect person was Grandpa Joe.

Now, every school day at 7:10 a.m., without fail, Avila takes up his post at the front gate and greets the steady flow of backpack-laden youngsters and harried parents. As the 7:45 a.m. start of school nears, the throngs get thicker, but Avila never loses his smiling composure — or his watchful eye.

On a recent chilly morning, dressed in gray slacks, collared shirt and blue sweater vest, Avila welcomed students, most of whom sported leg warmers, neon clothes, gaudy jewelry and heavily moussed hair for the school’s ’80s Day. When asked where his ’80s attire was, Avila quipped, “My outfit is already 80s.”

He offered fist bumps and high fives to those willing to reciprocate, but even shy students trying to slink on through couldn’t escape his interest. He was ready with questions designed to get their attention.

“How’s your sister?”

“Did you eat your breakfast already?”

Avila said the morning ritual is the favorite part of his day. He confesses, though, to not knowing all of the 595 students by name.

“I’m old already so the memory is declining,” he said. “I try to practice remembering their names.

“It’s a big challenge on my part, but, in fact, I love this challenge. I love being this busy.”

Off campus, Avila likes to read and tend to his fruit trees, everything from apple to zapote. But every morning, well before the morning bell peals, he is back at his station at Casillas’ front gate.

“I enjoy doing these things for Casillas,” he said. “I know I will never be bored.”