LAS CRUCES - The two fifth-grade boys had something hidden under their desk.
They had just returned from recess at Desert Hills Elementary and chattered quietly.
Their neighbor, a student who is deaf, was curious, asking what they were doing in American Sign Language.
Michele Gray, the afternoon sign language interpreter for the class, voiced his question: "Whatcha doin'?" she asked in a youthful voice.
The conversation is simple but would not have occurred without Gray, who signs every comment by teachers and hearing students, no matter how small, and voices all of the deaf student's signs.
About a dozen sign language interpreters work for Las Cruces Public Schools, translating for students at Desert Hills Elementary, Camino Real Middle and Oñate High schools, which offer magnet programs for district students who are deaf.
About four to 10 LCPS students are deaf each year, said Oñate interpreter B.J. Thrash, who has been with the program since it began in 1987. Interpreters accompany students to all mainstream classes and after-school activities if requested. Sometimes they'll go to recess with the youngest students to help them connect with their peers.
"They're so essential," Desert Hills fifth-grade teacher Donna Beal said. "If the student comes in and the interpreter is not here, there is nothing I can do to instruct that child.
If an interpreter is absent, there is no substitute due to low pay for subs and the high cost of maintaining ASL certifications,Thrash said.
The state recognizes sign language interpreters as professionals, and they are required to maintain three certifications: from the Public Education Department, the state Regulation and Licensing Department and a national organization.
Thrash is a "native speaker," growing up with deaf parents.
"I was the interpreter for the extended family," she said.
When the program began in 1987, teachers "were a little apprehensive about having another adult in the classroom." Now it goes smoothly, she said, and she interprets everything from calculus and AP classes to finance courses.
"I wanted to give back to the community, the community that raised me," said Thrash, who plans to retire this summer.
Gray, who earns about $45,000, has been interpreting for 11 years, working at a school for the deaf in Texas before moving to LCPS three years ago. She took ASL as a foreign language in high school and had friends who were deaf.
"I wanted to be able to communicate with them more than just writing back and forth," she said. "I wanted to be a part of their culture, their world." Even when not signing, her hand movements are big and expressive.
"I'm Italian, so it comes naturally," she said.
Young students often don't appreciate the value of having an interpreter, Gray said.
"It's at that point as adults they realize, when they don't have that interpreter at their side, that having that communication was an important part of (their) education," she said.
A large part of Thrash's job is preparing students for post-graduation when they no longer have an interpreter, for example encouraging students to ask the front office a question via text rather than via Thrash.
"It's a daily thing that you address from the time they're freshmen all the way through senior year: How would you do this without an interpreter?" she said.
People often assume interpreters are like companions, Gray said, working closely with one student and the student's family throughout the day.
In fact, the interpreters exclusively work with students in school and actively avoid becoming their friends.
"We don't know their momma and their aunt and uncle," Gray said.
Interpreters switch classes and grades throughout the day, avoiding a one student-one interpreter model. Thrash, for example, interprets an intervention course, government, senior English and financial literacy classes this spring, all with different deaf students.
Like teachers, they prepare for upcoming lessons weeks in advance.
ASL is not an exact science. Based on French sign language, it is a language in it itself. Like all translations, ASL interpretations aren't exact or identical.
"You can give five people the same sentence and get five different interpretations," Thrash said. She knows about 15 signs for "birthday" alone, she said.
She knows each high school subject in and out - in two languages, she said. "I have lots of junk in my head."