"Breaking Bad" on the contrary: the story of a drug dealer who became a teacher

Brennan Jacques teaches seventh and eighth grades at Whitley Public School in Trimee, New Orleans. And he has a very specific mission — children should learn the truth about drugs before everything goes too far. Brennan says that if you deal with drugs, you don't become successful millionaires. There are only two ways here — to the prison or to the morgue.

But, as it turned out, there is a third way — to become a math teacher. Almost 8 years ago, Jacques, who is now 30, was sentenced to prison for possession and distribution of cocaine. This was the end of his story, but he pulled himself together and embarked on the path of correction.

Jacques knew this scenario perfectly well, he had watched it countless times growing up in St. Thomas, New Orleans. Young people like him were running away from poverty and violence, being drawn into the world of drugs and weapons. Then everything is like a carbon copy: prison or death in a shootout.

This was also the case in his family. Of the six children, he was the youngest — two of his brothers and a nephew were shot dead. Two other brothers were jailed for a long time for violent crimes.

Jacques tried to find himself in sports, but even there there was no guarantee that drugs would pass by. 28 boys who played for the Panthers youth football team were killed over the course of 14 years. Dozens of others sold drugs, the result was prison.

Among them was Jacques. He went to prison at an early age and seemed to have put an end to his future. But life took an unexpected turn. 3 years after his release, Jacques got a job at the school as an assistant math teacher and basketball coach. He worked with children traumatized by violence, and those who are at risk of becoming victims of the same events that occurred in Jacques ' life.

Jacques is well aware that rarely anyone gets a second chance, and therefore is not going to miss it. He hopes that his own story will become an instructive fairy tale and a source of inspiration for students.

Every day at 8:30 in the morning, Jacques stands at the main school entrance and waits for the buses to arrive. A few minutes later, the students arrive, and the thought flashes through Jacques ' head:"Here they are." Children, ranging from preschoolers to eighth grade students, fill the quiet corridors with laughter and chatter.

"Good morning, good morning to everyone," Jacques greets. The boys shake his hand or give him a high five, the girls hug him or press their heads against his shoulder. Jacques smiles at every student.

Most of these children grow up the same way he grew up: street shootings, domestic violence, bloodshed in alleys and in courtyards. He knows that because of this situation, his students live in constant fear, which day after day reduces the strength of the spirit.

In 2016, a small study was conducted, showing that out of 26 students in the class, 16 witnessed a shootout, beating or stabbing, 15 suffered the murder of a loved one, and 10 saw the murder with their own eyes. It was important for the school to find a teacher like Jacques who would be personally familiar with the students ' experiences.

Jacques told about his 14-year-old student who was wounded in a shootout and saw his best friend shot. Now the child has a trauma — he is angry and snaps at everyone. Jacques talked to the boy every day, trying to direct him in the right direction, but he did not listen. One day, a schoolboy told him that he wanted to give up everything and go sell drugs. A few weeks later, he did so, he was not seen at school anymore.

Jacques was raised by the same mother. The people in their area are very close-knit, but the society was rotting from the inside because of poverty and crime. Jacques was only 7 years old when his older brother was shot because of a game of dice. At the age of 11, he first witnessed a murder — Jacques was playing football with friends when two men ran into the yard, one chasing the other.

That night, Jacques lay in the bathroom, turning over and over in his head the events he had seen.

It was around this time that Jacques first encountered drugs. He and his friends were playing on the street when one of the local drug dealers ran across the yards from the police, on the way he threw parcels out of his pockets. There was marijuana, cocaine, and heroin. Jacques and his friends didn't know anything about drugs, they were children, but they quickly learned.

Jacques played in the local football team, was very purposeful, and no one expected that he would get involved with drugs. Over time, he also started selling them, and all this was before he reached adolescence.

Almost all of his entourage was involved in various criminal schemes, including his brothers, so this kind of activity seemed quite natural. Jacques didn't take it seriously until his daughter was born — at that time he was in high school.

Everything changed in 2009. In June, his brother was arrested as an accomplice to the murder — he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. At that moment, Jacques realized that he had to change his life, otherwise everything would end badly. But I didn't change anything.

Two months later, federal agents knocked on his apartment. They found almost 750 grams of cocaine and 30 thousand dollars in cash. This was his first arrest — Jacques was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

3 months after the arrest, Jacques ' nephew was shot dead, he was only 19 years old. Jacques realized that he had lost. He couldn't become one of those tough drug dealers who retire young and rich. He ended up in prison when he was 22, and felt terrible.

One day, Jacques showed a cellmate a photo of his daughter, who was then 5 years old. The man, who was serving a life sentence, looked at the photo and gave it back. "I will never go home and see my children," he said — Is this the kind of life you want? You are young, and there are other opportunities waiting for you in the wild. So what are you going to do?"

Before his release, Jacques called his friend, who worked as a manager in a restaurant, and asked for help with finding a job. He agreed. By the way, Jacques still works part-time in a restaurant after school. And the former drug dealer went to university, where he studied mathematics. He graduated from the university and received a diploma in computer science.

After graduating from university, Jacques applied to the school for the position of a teacher, but he did not even hope that he would be taken. But on August 1, 2017, he went to work.

Most of all, his mother was happy for Jacques, because back in 2009, all four of her surviving sons were in prison. She threw a party in his honor.

Now Jacques wants to help the next generations by his example. He knows that the cruelty and crimes surrounding these children do not determine their fate. He is an example of this.