The Circuit

Mr. Sims is the principal of the elementary school in Santa Maria, California, that Francisco and Roberto attend briefly. Although Mr. Sims seems to be a well-meaning man who does his best to help Francisco and Roberto, he lives a very different kind of life than they do, so his attempts to help them don’t always work out since they are separated by race, language, and privilege. When Francisco is a first-grader at the elementary school, Mr. Sims sees him shivering without a coat at recess and gives him a coat from the lost-and-found bin. This kindness ends up landing Francisco in trouble since the boy who originally owned the coat beats up Francisco to get his coat back, and Francisco unfairly ends up being punished by his teacher for fighting a classmate. Francisco is also forced to return the coat, which he had come to treasure. Still, Francisco’s family remembers Mr. Sims fondly because he does his best to help them, and when Roberto is looking for a full-time job in Santa Maria many years later, he goes to Mr. Sims to ask for help in finding one. Even in this instance, Mr. Sims’s first attempt at helping Roberto ends up causing him much disappointment because Mr. Sims sets up a job interview that doesn’t quite work out. Finally, Mr. Sims himself steps in and offers him a job as a janitor at the school. Jiménez seems to be saying that he appreciates people like Mr. Sims who try to help out, but he also points out that there might be some missteps along the way when people who inhabit different worlds try to understand one another.