Thread: Alabama schools see rise in number of Hispanics

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Schools see rise in number of Hispanics
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
By GUY BUSBY
Staff Reporter
FOLEY -- Baldwin County public school enrollment is up 5.6 percent this year, but the number of Hispanic students -- who were rare in this area a few years ago -- is increasing at several times that rate, according to educators.

While still a small fraction of the overall enrollment, the number of Hispanic students rose about 20 percent from last year, according to system reports.

The trend is requiring that the school system hire more teachers and interpreters, send forms home in Spanish, and focus on helping students not proficient in English take standardized tests.

More jobs in the construction industry following Hurricane Ivan last September seem to be one reason for the increase, said Ida White, a school system liaison who works with Hispanic families. "Most of the men, that's where they're working, and the ladies are in construction cleanup. It's not just agriculture like some people think," White said.

Five years ago, Baldwin County had 150 Hispanic students in its English as a Second Language program, said Kathy Nichol, special services supervisor for the system. Last year, there were about 500, and initial projections for the current academic term, which began a week ago, show further growth.

"The numbers are still coming in, but it looks like we're going to have 100 additional students, as of right now, with limited English proficiency who will need our services," Nichol said.

All of the Hispanic children must prove residency and have the same documentation, such as immunization forms and Social Security numbers, as other students, according to Baldwin County school officials. In fact, many were born in the United States.

In Mobile County, where classes opened Monday, school officials did not have a total number of Hispanic students for the new year. Last year, the approximately 65,000-student system had 540 Hispanic students, said spokeswoman Nancy Pierce.

The number of Hispanic people in Alabama is only 1.7 percent, but that population group is growing rapidly, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health publication "Hispanic Health Profile."

Statewide, between 1990 and 2000, the number of people of Hispanic origin more than doubled, from 24,629 to 75,830, the U.S. Census Bureau has reported.

In Baldwin County, while the English as a Second Language program works with students from other ethnic backgrounds, including Czech, Polish and Portuguese students, more than 92 percent of the participants are Spanish-speaking, Nichol said.

Hispanic students' test scores are one of the categories measured in the Annual Yearly Progress report issued last week for Alabama schools. Of the 20 Baldwin schools and 32 Mobile County schools cited for not meeting state standards, the scores of Hispanic students were listed as a factor in only one instance -- math participation at Foley Middle School.

Among individual Baldwin schools, Foley Elementary has the highest Hispanic enrollment this year, 95, and also has experienced the largest increase, approximately 35, over last year.

Foley Elementary Principal William Lawrence said that Hispanic children account for more than one of every seven pupils thus far this year. The south Baldwin school's total enrollment is 636.

Eight years ago, the school had five Hispanic students, Lawrence said. As in a number of other schools, educators have had to make adjustments, Lawrence said.

"Some of the teachers have gone through a very extensive English as a Second Language certification," Lawrence said. "We also hired a bilingual kindergarten teacher and we've got a strong ESL program as far as aides. Last year, we started an after-hours program, a class in English for parents, that we hope to have again this year."

Lawrence said that by the third grade, the children who did not speak English as kindergartners do as well on standardized tests as their classmates.

"These are good kids. Some of them are really smart kids. They just have to overcome the language barrier," Lawrence said.

For a small child, the shock of experiencing a first day of school in a place where no one speaks his or her language is something that Elena Smith, the school's bilingual kindergarten teacher, understands well.

"When I started school in Foley, there were only two or three Hispanic kids in all of Foley, K through 12, and I was one of them," she said. "When I got on the bus to go home on the first day, I knew where my house was, but I couldn't tell anyone. I couldn't speak English. It was terrifying."

Today, Smith addresses her pupils in English and, if necessary, repeats the instructions in Spanish.

"I'll tell them in English and if I look and see this," she said, mimicking a baffled expression, "on someone's face, I'll repeat it in Spanish."

Smith said most Hispanic parents want their children to receive as much instruction in English as possible. She said most kindergarten students start to pick up English quickly, although progress may be slow at first.

Foley third-grader Claudia Hernandez-Pentoja recalled the difficulty of starting kindergarten and not being able to understand English. "I didn't know how to do the work," she said.

Diana Chapparo, also a third-grader, came to Foley from Mexico City when she was 6. "I came here because my dad came here," she said. "I was shy, but I like it now. I like my teachers and everyone."

The school system plans to add three English as a Second Language teachers, bringing the total to 10, Nichol said. She said the system is also adding a second home-school liaison this year. The liaisons are Spanish-speaking counselors who work with Hispanic families, to help their school-age children.

White, the new liaison who will join Nilda Lehmann, worked with Hispanic students as an ESL aide and interpreter in the south Baldwin area for four years.

White's job might range from trying to find crayons and binders for low-income families, to helping parents deal with rules and requirements expressed in a language that many of them don't understand.

Children often become fluent in English before their parents do, according to educators.

A child who enters kindergarten speaking no English often learns enough of the language to communicate and follow a teacher's instructions by the middle of the year, Lawrence said.

Sometimes, the child serves as an interpreter for the entire family.

"They'll pull the child out of school when someone needs to go to the doctor," White said. "When someone goes to the emergency room and stays at the hospital, we've had children miss school because of that. They're having to stay at the hospital."

Just wait and see how quickly those numbers rise and then taxpayers will pay more to accomodate all those children or services will be cut for their own children I have seen with my own eyes how quickly the hispanic numbers rise. My daughters school went from under 5% hispanic to over 40% in less then five years. Hispanics are now the majority at her old school.