Thread: North Carolina Schools Accomodate Hispanic Students

This article can be found at www.journalnow.com



Meeting the Needs
Schools challenged to properly educate immigrant students
By Michael Hewlett
JOURNAL REPORTER
Monday, November 21, 2005



Marsha Maxey teaches a class of Spanish-speaking students at Old Town Elementary. (Journal Graphic By Richard Boyd II / Journal Photo By David Rolfe)
Tobie Arnold, the principal at Old Town Elementary School has seen the number of Hispanic students grow to about half the school's student population in the past six years.

And she has heard some people grumble about that. But she said last week that her focus is on the children.

"I think they're here, and they deserve the best education we can give them," she said.

Forsyth County commissioners Debra Conrad-Shrader and Beaufort Bailey referred to the rising Hispanic population during a recent meeting and said they wondered if tougher immigration enforcement might help cut the need for more schools.

School officials had just presented a plan calling for 13 new schools, renovations to 24 others and technology improvements that would cost the county $405 million if put on a bond referendum.

Hispanics constitute 14 percent of the school system's student population, and over the past six years, the number of Hispanic students in the school system has grown 148 percent.

Statewide, Hispanics make up 7.5 percent of the overall student population, according to statistics from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.

"I think it's appropriate to take (tougher immigration enforcement) into consideration," Conrad-Shrader said. "What if we build all those schools and the Hispanic population disappears?"

But Hispanic students won't disappear, and Forsyth County and the rest of North Carolina is going to have to deal with that reality, immigration experts and Hispanic advocates say.

"I don't think any of us should be short-sighted to believe that this entire population is going to go away," said Melanie Chernoff, the deputy director for El Pueblo, a statewide advocacy group for Hispanics.

North Carolina is one of six Southern states that are experiencing rapid growth in the Hispanic population, according to a recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center.

The Hispanic population grew 394 percent between 1990 and 2000, based on U.S. Census numbers, the study said.

In Forsyth County, the Hispanic population went from 2,102 in the 1990 Census to 19,577 in the 2000 Census, an 831 percent increase.

Francisco Camara-Riess, the editor of the weekly newspaper Que Pasa, said he estimates that about 80 percent of the Hispanics who live in Forsyth County are undocumented, the same statistic that Conrad-Shrader talked about during a recent commissioners briefing.

However, no one knows for sure how many illegal immigrants live in Forsyth County and elsewhere. Hispanic advocates say that the U.S. Census undercounts the Hispanic population. The U.S. Census does not ask people their legal status.

A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1982 prevents school officials from asking children about their legal status. Public schools must try to educate children regardless of their or their parents' legal status.

Gabriel Servello, a Cuban-American who has three children in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, said he was offended when he heard about the comments made by Conrad-Shrader and Bailey.

He said they unfairly stigmatized Hispanics.

"You can't just blame Hispanics," Servello said.

He said he lives in Kernersville, a place where neighbors have arrived from, among other places, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin. They were attracted to the lower housing prices and family friendly atmosphere just as he was, he said.

"Everything is growing around here," Servello said.

Superintendent Don Martin said that the Hispanic population is one factor out of many that influence the school system, which has a growth rate of about 2 percent a year.

Even without the Hispanic population, the school system would grow about 1 percent a year, he said.

Immigration is a hot-button issue nationally and has stirred some anger. In 1994, California voters passed Proposition 187, a law intended to deny illegal immigrants access to social services, health care and public education.

The law was a reaction to the federal government's inaction in enforcing immigration laws, said John Keeley, the communications director of Center for Immigration Studies, which favors curbs on immigration.

But a federal judge ruled that the law was unconstitutional. Congress is considering several proposals, but even if it passes tougher legislation, the problem won't be quickly solved, Keeley said.

"There is nothing that can be done for localities in the short term because Congress has failed to act on enforcement of immigration laws for decades," he said.

Focusing on enforcement won't work anyway, said Noah Pickus, a professor at Duke University and the author of True Faith and Allegiance: Immigration and American Civic Nationalism.

North Carolina is changing, and leaders in Forsyth County and across the state are going to have to deal with that, he said.

Demonizing immigrants won't solve the problem, and neither will wholesale deportation of all illegal immigrants, Pickus said.

Pickus said that the country benefits from immigration because American businesses, such as construction companies, employ immigrants. Americans now are considering the costs, he said.

Leaders in Forsyth County and across the state have to find ways to help immigrants become better educated and better trained, Pickus said.

"We have a policy where we don't invest much in immigrants and we don't expect much," he said.

Gloria Whisenhunt, the chairwoman of the Forsyth commissioners, said she won't let her concerns about the rising Hispanic population influence how she votes on setting a school-bond referendum.

"Regardless of how I feel about the rise in Hispanic population, it is my sole responsibility to house these children until the state and federal laws are changed," she said.

And, we wonder why OUR children can't get a decent education???

"We have a policy where we don't invest much in immigrants and we don't expect much," he said

Even for a Duke professor, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about. NC invests more in non-English students than in citizens. The result is that our kid graduate from highschool without reaching their full potential.

That man must be living in a vacuum! "Don't invest much"??? Where has he BEEN?? He is delusional. Even if they invest $.50 per student, it is too much. Every cent that the state spends on educating illegals is money taken away from American students. I've just heard two horror tales from teachers in North Carolina--one in Winston-Salem and one in Davidson County. The one in Winston teaches 1st grade and she has 22 students--eleven of which speak NO ENGLISH. The one in my county has 7 special needs children AND 10 children who don't speak English. And, one of those children speaks ITALIAN and doesn't understand the first word of English. When this young lady complained to the new principal, the principal told her that the child could just understand the the Spanish speaking ones. The teacher told the principal that she had been both to Italy and to Mexico and that there was no way that the child would understand SPANISH. The teacher was just SO frustrated she was on the verge of tears when the principal told her that "God will take care of the problem"!! The teacher said that, when those children flunked the end-of-grade test, she was going right to the principal and say, "I did as you told me and left it in God's hands so, since they didn't pass, it must not have been God's will that they pass"!!!!

It's really not funny but I hope she will say exactly that.

well that' why they come here-free high quality schools ,free everything and they contribute by finding work at constuction sites nearby. isnt that nice- that we could take over educating an entire country when many american born children cannot afford college and schools are strapped financially?
why are the American working poor invisible to journalists. ?
I can imagine that many teachers will be quitting- teaching is a lowpaying job and to put up with those working conditions is too much.

I know one thing--ANYBODY who would CHOOSE teaching as a career in this day and age is either VERY dedicated or VERY CRAZY! There is not enough money to pay ME to do it. They all deserve either our gratitude or our sympathy.

Originally Posted by Bootsie

I know one thing--ANYBODY who would CHOOSE teaching as a career in this day and age is either VERY dedicated or VERY CRAZY! There is not enough money to pay ME to do it. They all deserve either our gratitude or our sympathy.

Agreed Bootsie. I really feel sorry for those who were teaching BEFORE the invasion. This mess was just thrown on them and they have to sink or swim.

These figures are alarming! 394% increase in Hispanic students? 893%???

The very idea that we would even consider building new schools to accomodate these people is ludicrous! Further, the students are more than likely "anchor babies" and, at the present time THEY, if not their parents, are citizens.

At the very least, if we can't legally deny them an education, they should have to learn in English rather than drag the American kids down.

And, what is EVEN MORE INFURIATING is that they are not allowed to even ASK if they are legal. Now, that is something that needs to be included in ANY and EVERY law that is passed about immigration. We should NOT have to provide a FREE education for someone who broke our laws to come to our country. So, while they are getting rid of the "anchor baby" laws, they need to do away with educating children of illegals FREE. If they go to our schools, they should have to pay.

That's right, had_enuf--it is REALLY rough on those teachers who have chosen that career YEARS ago and are STUCK with a situation over which they have no control.