Rose Search's work isn't finished yet

ROYAL CITY - There were a couple of times during the recent controversy surrounding Rose Search's employment as the Royal School District superintendent that she considered resigning.

One time was when her mother died in August. She was close to her mother and questioned whether she should have been with her more in her last days instead battling over teacher contracts or her job.

The second time came in October, the usual time for superintendents to start looking for new opportunities.

But Search decided to stay or be forced out. She didn't want to be one to give up. She came from a family of doers, and giving up would have let some people, especially family members, down.

Search's life has been like the lives of many of the students she has served during her career. Her grandfather Tomas Cerna was one of the first Mexicans to settle in the Yakima Valley or eastern Washington, arriving in the Toppenish area in the 1930s.

Tomas immediately bought property and started farming. He became well known by all who sought fresh garden produce and the hot peppers to which they were accustomed in Mexico or Mexican barrios in the U.S.

"My family in Mexico included landowners and professionals," Search said. "My grandpa lost his farm in the (Pancho Villa) revolution (1910-1924)."

Eventually some of Tomas's sons - he raised 16 children - joined him in the Valley and became farmers. Some of the children did not come.

"We have a big family in Mexico - a big family," Search said.

According to Search's cousin, Toppenish Superintendent John Cerna, the families keep in contact and occasionally cross the border to visit.

"In Mexico, we have doctors, lawyers, business owners and medical clinic directors - everything," John said.

In the U.S., there is a Cerna family reunion every year, and just about everybody attends.

It starts with a taco party on Friday evening. There is golf or fishing on Saturday before a noon barbecue. The Saturday night dinner and dance features Mexican music. Then there is a farewell breakfast at which Search focuses on menudo.

"We talk about how life must have been for grandpa, his brothers and his children," Search said. "We honor people who have accomplished something."

In 2006, it was Search's turn to be recognized when she became the first school superintendent in the family - at Royal City. She's been at her post eight years. John has been at his five.

Until Rose's and John's generation, the Cernas in the U.S. were pretty much an agrarian family. Now many of the Cernas are involved at all levels of education and other professions. Search's son is a teacher, one daughter is a teacher, married to a teacher, the other daughter is married to a teacher.

Search's father, Jess, was born in 1919. He farmed with his father and, later, a brother in the Toppenish area. Seven of his and Josefina (Valdez's) children were born in the Valley.

Jess moved to Moses Lake in 1954 to farm on his own. Search and the rest of the 12 children were born there.

Jess entered his name in a government lottery for an opportunity to buy land in Basin City while Search was a tyke, and he was chosen. The family lived in Connell while a house was built, then moved to Basin City.

Search did not participate in the farm work. She and her sisters helped Josefina with household chores while the boys worked with their father. Feeding seven hungry hard-working boys and their father was work enough.

"My mom made a big stack of tortillas every morning. That was our bread for the day," Search said. "She put only part of it on the table for breakfast."

But Search and her sister Mary did try farm work one summer. They decided to hoe beets for extra money to buy the things young girls fancy.

The sisters quit almost immediately and ran from the field without their hoes when they encountered a snake. Their father was irate afterwards.

"Do you know how much those hoes cost?" he demanded.

Search said she and her sister didn't care. It was a snake.

Search attended Connell schools from kindergarten through graduation in 1974. One of her friends during the latter years was Dan Search, a buddy to one of her brothers and two of her cousins. She talked with him all of the time in that setting.

Then one day Dan asked her for a date. They went out and didn't say a word to each other. Dan was 20, and Rose was 19 when they married and, quickly, they had their three children.

Everything seemed to be okay until the extended family party for Search's 25th birthday. She cried as she blew out the candles. It crossed her mind that she would never be able to go to college.

"Who said that?" Dan asked, and her mother echoed.

Dan changed his work schedule to a 4 p.m.-to-midnight shift so he could be with the children during the day. Search drove to Columbia Basin Community College in Pasco daily for a year and a half to earn her AA degree. She finished with a 3.9 grade point average.

Then she moved to Cheney with the children to earn a Bachelor of Arts in education and her teaching certificate from Eastern Washington University. She took 24 credits per term and finished early, graduating cum laude with a 3.8.

While Search attended classes, the first two children attended grade school, and the third child went to a pre-school program. Dan stayed in Connell and worked two jobs.

"He took a second job so he could support all of that," Search said. "I went all the way through college without a student loan. Dan paid for it all."

Search started her teaching career with fifth grade at Basin City in 1986. She moved to an elementary in Connell the next year.

In 1988, while still teaching at Connell, Search started studies for her Master's at EWU. She made the drive to Cheney every Monday for evening classes and returned home about midnight.

"My mom went with me every time to keep me company," Search said.

Search made the same trip daily in summer. She finished her Master's in 1990 needing only two more classes to complete a principal's credentials. And she had some administrative experience as director of the Connell summer program.

Search became the assistant principal at an Othello elementary in 1993. In 2000 she became the assistant superintendent at Othello.

Search was content and happy at Othello. Superintendent George Juarez, whose Wapato family was acquainted with the Cerna family, worked well together.

When administrator head hunter Dennis Ray suggested Search apply for the superintendent position at Royal City, she turned the idea down. After Ray insisted it was an opportunity she shouldn't pass up, she applied.

Search was not offered the job. One of the factors was that she wouldn't commit to moving to Royal City.

"The drive to visit mom was already long enough. I didn't want to make it any longer," she said.

In 2006, Ray called again about the same job. Search's first question was: "Do they want me?" He couldn't tell her that, but he insisted this was the right opportunity for her.

Search's mother had moved to Tri-Cities, and other family members were caring for her. She applied again. She committed to moving here.

Search was torn between being excited for her future and her happiness in the Othello community. One of her administrators there, a Hispanic, even confronted her about leaving.

"You told us we can't go. You said we have to stay. You said we have to be role models for these kids," the man said. "Why are you going?"

Search couldn't answer him, and that incident has stuck with her ever since. It reminded her she'll never be perfect.

Search is sure she disappointed some people, maybe angered some, in the first seven years at Royal, but those years went relatively smoothly. Even contract negotiations went well.

When the latest teacher negotiations, which started in January of 2013, went awry, Search encountered a year she never envisioned. The majority of teachers wanted her to be removed, and the school board nearly gave them their wish.

The Cerna family suffered eight deaths during that time, all of them affecting Search deeply. Dan's father died just recently.

At one point, Search thought, "Maybe I shouldn't stay where I'm not wanted."

But the first Cerna to become a school superintendent was not about to become the first to resign under pressure. She felt her work serving the needs of children was not finished.