• IDRA Newsletter • September 2025 •
This month marks Aurelio Manuel Montemayor’s 50th anniversary with IDRA!
During that time, Aurelio, who is IDRA’s family engagement coordinator, has innovated teacher training, advanced our vision of college access for all students, transformed traditional parent involvement activities into student and family leadership for school improvement, and more.
He has demonstrated what it means to walk with families, listening first, lifting student voices, and transforming community strength and love into lasting change.
Aurelio grew up on the border in Laredo, Texas, received a bachelor’s degree in English and philosophy from St. Edwards University in Austin and earned a master’s degree in bilingual education from Juarez-Lincoln – Antioch Graduate School of Education.
He began his teaching career in 1964 on the border as an English teacher in the San Felipe neighborhood of Del Rio. His original plans to become a published writer were sidetracked by his immediate and permanent love of teaching.
“I just fell in love with education, with teaching. I especially liked the kids that everyone else hated.”
Aurelio’s pedagogic skills and development were central to his journey in becoming a VISTA trainer and a co-founder of an independent Chicano college. In the early 1970s, he was proud to meet with Paolo Freire, who had been an inspiration for his community education work.
Since his days in the classroom, Aurelio has been driven to change that great swaths of children receive a “less-than” education: “The farther a student is seen from being middle-class, white and English-speaking, the less that student is seen as a potential college student. The same is true for students with a discipline record or ‘attitude problem.’”
Aurelio joined IDRA in 1975 as a teacher trainer and developed key training-of-trainer tools for educators and other professionals. He believes in the power of community engagement for leadership development and effective education. He was the lead developer of IDRA’s Family Leadership in Education model.
“I’m inspired by the families I see bent on preparing their children for college, even when the parents don’t speak English and, economically, are hanging by their fingernails.
I’m inspired when I see teenagers sitting down to teach adults how to get onto the computer so that they can see how their children’s school is doing.
I’m inspired when the student voice is heard, unfiltered, uncoached by adults, and clearly letting us know what is working in school for them, and what is not.
I’m inspired when I see educators talking with parents and students, where each one has a chance to speak their mind without being criticized.”
– Aurelio in an interview with Our Children magazine, 2008
And he kept writing. He authored many articles, book chapters and even his biography co-written with Thomas Ray Garcia, El Curso de la Raza: The Education of Aurelio Manuel Montemayor, which was featured at the Texas Book Festival in November 2023.
Over the years at IDRA, Aurelio has worked with teachers, superintendents, school boards, families, and community organizations, served on national boards, and mentored students themselves – all to ensure every student has access to strong education in our public schools.
“We must consistently and passionately insist that our schools see and nurture the potential in all children, especially those who’ve not been thought of as college material.”
Aurelio is more than IDRA’s longest-serving staff member; his heart and wisdom have helped make IDRA what it is today.
Thank you, Aurelio, for your heart, your wisdom, and your shared journey with IDRA!
Fun Fact: Aurelio is a persistent planter of and crusader for Texas wildflowers as featured in an eBook, The Thorny Path of the Non-compliant Xeriscapist.
[© 2025, IDRA. This article originally appeared in the September edition of the IDRA Newsletter. Permission to reproduce this article is granted provided the article is reprinted in its entirety and proper credit is given to IDRA and the author.]
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