After a career in the military, Bob Green took a job as a custodian at Ott Elementary and made it his mission to become a teacher there. Photos by Lauri Gray Eaton

By Sarah Snyder
Staff Writer

Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Bob Green knew he was going to be an Ott Elementary School teacher long before anyone else did. He even knew what his classroom was going to look like. He had plenty of chances studying them for three years as assistant head janitor of the school.

His teaching quarters is a humble portable, infused with layers colors and learning tools. There’s an art to the functionality, so much so that teachers have asked them to “flip” their rooms after he was done cleaning them.

Two of his defining principles: efficient use of space and ample room for the children. In short, no kids sitting on the floor.

Then there are the owls, the theme for this room. Owl curtains and stuffed owls from students and parents adorn the walls. Green has scads of plastic containers of learning stuff from retired teachers. He has kept everything. He’s even spent one month’s salary to build the classroom of dreams, marked by adequate shelving and his favorite feature … the podium.

The podium is the Ferrari of all podiums, equipped with ample storage, a cup holder and a light bulb that turns on when students have a moment of clarity.

He still remembers the day he saw the “help wanted” job for the custodial position and had a light bulb moment of his own: he could study by day and work by night to become a teacher.

“I told them, ‘I’m applying for assistant head custodian, but I will be teaching at this school someday,” Green said.

And Ott Principal Shana Hansen is grateful for it.

“Bob is a great teacher and we are so glad he is here,” she said.

Mission accomplished, he adopted owls as the classroom mascot and wisely initiated the school’s chess club.

Every semester, he’d let Ott the principal know about his grades. He even wrote letters to successfully convince UTSA to let him do his observations at Ott, a rarity when aspiring teachers don’t typically get to pick where they train.

“I didn’t go to any job fairs. I gambled it all,” Green said.

Ott’s mascot is the trailblazer. Green was the first teacher to bring home trophies, with the chess club he founded during his custodian days. He’s also the first to achieve an honorary stuffed panda bear for collecting box tops. (Green admitted he got a head start when he was cleaning the rooms).

As a prank, when Green interviewed for the Ott teaching position, he was asked every question on the list instead of a select few, and administrators stood in the window making faces at him.

The pressure of decades in the military didn’t compare to the pressure he felt waiting for his state exam results, but sure enough he was able to become a bona fide teacher. He loves the feeling he gets when he walks down the street when students notice him and point out “oh look, it’s Mr. Green.”

But it hasn’t all been without snags.

“You have to know the audience you’re talking to,” Green said. “Sometimes you want to tell them, ‘Drop and give me 10.’ ”