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    CLARK COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT: Hisp students outnumber whites

    CLARK COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT: Hispanic students outnumber whites

    Hispanic students outnumber white students for the first time in the 50-year history of the Clark County School District, according to the latest figures from the district.

    Hispanics make up 38.8 percent of the district's student population, with 117,496 students. The district has 113,430 white students, or 37.5 percent.

    Last school year, white students accounted for 39.3 percent of the district's population, compared with 37 percent Hispanic students.

    The demographic shift caps a booming Hispanic student population in Clark County that has been on the increase since 1980. That year, Hispanics represented only 5.3 percent of district students. A decade later, the Hispanic population had grown to 12.1 percent.

    Superintendent Walt Rulffes approached the development with caution, saying the changing face of the district could place additional burdens on a school system in which many Hispanics struggle to grasp the English language.

    "It compounds the challenges," Rulffes said. "We not only have the profound challenges of the growing population, but we have to change how we do business because of the change in cultural mix."

    Rulffes said legislators responsible for determining funding for the district should take heed of the demographic change and provide additional support to aid Hispanics who face a language barrier.

    Fifty-five percent of the district's Hispanic students are enrolled in the English Language Learners Program, or ELL, and speak Spanish as their primary language

    "We need the funding formula to recognize that we have a new layer of English language learners who are in our system," Rulffes said. "Since all of our testing is in English, students have to acquire the English-language speaking skills to perform well in high-stakes testing."

    At nearly 303,000 students, the district is the fifth-largest in the nation.

    "We're taking over," quipped Ron Montoya, a Mexican-American and principal of Valley High School, where about 62 percent of the 3,100 students are Hispanic.

    Montoya said the growing Hispanic population is a positive development because Hispanics are kind in nature. But like Rulffes, Montoya said the population change might result in challenges for the district that are not exclusive to Clark County.

    "We're no different than any other top 10 (largest) district in the country," Montoya said. New York City, Los Angeles and Miami have school systems larger than Clark County's and with significant Hispanic populations.

    Clark County School Board member Larry Mason, who also is Mexican-American, said the district needs to step up its efforts to improve the ELL Program.

    Mason gave the program a C-minus grade in effectiveness. He said the district is burdened with too many students and not enough bilingual teachers.

    Mason also is concerned that the program is ineffective because it could be mislabeling participants.

    "Some Hispanics might be getting lumped in with other Hispanics," he said, emphasizing that not all Hispanics have problems speaking English.

    Norberta Anderson, co-director of the district's English Language Learners Program Department, said the program serves nearly 69,000 students, 94 percent of whom speak Spanish as their primary language.

    The program assists students from 132 countries who speak 92 languages.

    Anderson said the district has nearly 2,000 licensed bilingual teachers. Her department provides ongoing training to help teachers with students who struggle with English.

    "Everybody is an ELL teacher because everyone has a kid who is an ELL student," Anderson said.

    Nearly 14,000 teachers during the past two years have sought training from the ELL Department, Anderson said. The district has about 17,500 teachers.

    Anderson said that about 65 percent of the students in the program are American-born, a statistic obtained by the department through paperwork provided by schools. The information is gathered when students enroll in the school system. Anderson said information on student nationality is gathered by her department only for "language purposes," to identify why a student struggles with English.

    "We don't delve into immigration issues," she said.

    State Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, said he doesn't know what the impact is of illegal immigrants on the school system.

    But he said other institutions such as the welfare system and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, should track who is undocumented and restrict services to illegal immigrants. Beers said UNLV should not give out Millennium Scholarships to illegal immigrants.

    Asked whether the fact that Hispanics make up the largest ethnic group of students in Clark County would result in a spike in anti-immigrant sentiment, Beers paused and then said only "yes."

    Robert Gomez, chairman of the Las Vegas Latin Chamber of Commerce, said the immigration issue should be resolved in Congress.

    In the meantime, students "should not be put on the battlefield," Gomez said.

    "Why are you going to blame a child?" he said. "You're going to blame a 6-year-old because a parent brought them here and they are in the system?"

    Gomez said that regardless of citizenship, Hispanic students who are educated in the United States will grow up to love America and do American things.

    David Esqueda, a senior at Valley who is American-born and of Cuban and Mexican descent, said the district's shift in demographics will mean more focus on Hispanic students.

    "With more Hispanics, there is a better representation," he said. "A lot of minorities are ignored because they are minorities."

    Esqueda's classmate, ShaNez Hendrick, a senior who is white, said she enjoys the diversity at her school and in the district.

    "I personally like diversity," she said. "Being somewhere where everyone is put together as a mix is nice."
    http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/ ... 19170.html

  2. #2
    Senior Member Dixie's Avatar
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    Senior Member loservillelabor's Avatar
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    Montoya said the growing Hispanic population is a positive development because Hispanics are kind in nature.
    The kinda nature that cuts heads off people? And school principals in GA might disagree. Montoya must have been a teacher in Oaxacaca?
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