Thread: AZ-School accused of taking Mexican students

School accused of taking Mexican students
Comments:28
by Bob McClay
May 21st, 2009 @ 1:24pm

A video proves conclusively that a charter school in Douglas is accepting students who reside across the border in Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico, Arizona State Schools Chief Tom Horne said Thursday.

Omega Alpha Academy denied the allegations when it was questioned by the Arizona Department of Education in 2008. It provided documentation that all of its students were Arizona residents.

At that time, the executive director of the school, Jose Frisby, wrote the Education Department that, "Before we enroll any student, we require that the student verify his or her Arizona residency. When a student's family cannot provide any of these records... we obtain a certified statement from the Arizona resident with whom the student resides."

More allegations of undocumented students surfaced in April, and the Education Department sent a staff member to videotape evidence.

Horne said,"Contrary to previous denials, Omega Alpha Academy is accepting dozens of students who do not live in Arizona. Videotaped evidence shows students being transported to and from school in several large passenger vans filled with Omega Alpha students that move directly from the school to the Mexican border in the afternoon and directly from the border to the school each morning. "

The superintendent added, "The scheme is open and blatant. Since these vans operate either on school property or in areas immediately adjacent to the property, in full view of school staff, in order to pick up and drop off students, it is impossible that school leadership is unaware of this practice."

Horne noted that the Attorney General's Office has ruled that charter schools are exempt from state jurisdiction over undocumented students. He urged the Legislature to take action immediately to allow the state to stop making its aid payments for the undocumented students.

"I feel that it's a violation of the intent of the law for money to be spent educating students who are residents of Mexico, which has it's own school system," Horne said.

Attorney General Terry Goddard, whose office gave the opinion that charter schools were not subject to state aid requirements, joined Horne in urging lawmakers to close the loophole.

"The state of Arizona is struggling to make ends meet and no area is feeling the squeeze more than our schools," Goddard said. "Providing Arizona students with a quality education msut be lawmakers' top priority as the state weathers this economic crisis.

"Arizona tax dollars should not be used to educate residents of other states, whether that state is California, Utah or Sonora. Funding the schooling of those who do not live in Arizona is a wasteful expenditure that draws money away from critical investment in Arizona students."

KTAR showed Democratic Rep. Ed Ableser a press release about Horne's concerns. He reacted by saying the loophole is wrong.

"Charter schools are just like state run schools. There's no difference. They should be held by the same accountability. They should be held to the same accountability. And if in statute, our public schools are not allowed to do this, then charter schools shouldn't be allowed to either."

Republican Senate President Bob Burns echoed Ableser's concerns, saying he would be willing to hear such legislation if it's introduced. "I don't think we should have our taxpayers paying for the education of foreign students, especially not going to the border, picking them up and transporting them north."

He said the bill could be heard and passed quickly with an emergency clause.

Ablesar said charter schools are treated differently than public schools in the state. "And that's been the problem all along with charter schools in Arizona is that public schools in Arizona are held to a hire standard and charter schools get a free ride. And this is a perfect example of what we need to fix."

View the video:

• www.ade.az.gov


Click on hot topic labeled: Video: Omega Alpha Academy accepting students from Mexico.

• www.oaadouglas.org




http://ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=1165131

they get money when they have kids in class. they dont care if where they are from

http://sidebar.cnn.com/2009/US/05/20...l?iref=topnews

El Paso school a haven along violent border

* Story Highlights
* 70 percent of Lydia Patterson Institute's students commute from Mexico
* Students, parents say school provides sense of security in contrast to Juarez, Mexico
* Lydia Patterson Institute has admitted 25 new students from Mexico this year
* School founded as sanctuary for families fleeing Mexican Revolution

updated 10:54 a.m. EDT, Wed May 20, 2009

* Next Article in U.S. »

* Read
* VIDEO
* SLIDESHOW

By Emanuella Grinberg
CNN
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EL PASO, Texas (CNN) -- Marina Diaz knows each day could be her last when she leaves for school each morning.
Marina Diaz and Alejandro Caballero cross a U.S.-Mexico border checkpoint on the way to school each day.

Marina Diaz and Alejandro Caballero cross a U.S.-Mexico border checkpoint on the way to school each day.

But that doesn't stop her from making the trip from her home on the dusty outskirts of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, a key battleground in Mexico's drug wars, to El Paso, Texas, where she attends high school.

From the moment she catches a bus to downtown Juarez, she is mindful of her surroundings. This is a city that saw 1,600 homicides last year. She warily watches the federal soldiers patrolling the streets.

Diaz, 18, finally relaxes after she clears customs at a border checkpoint and passes the "Welcome to Texas!" sign greeting pedestrians at the intersection of El Paso Street and 6th Avenue in downtown El Paso. From there, it's another five minutes to the Lydia Patterson Institute.

She is not the only student making the trip across the border each day. In fact, most of the students in the school do it: About 70 percent of the institute's 459 students live in Juarez. Some are American citizens with Mexican parents; others are Mexican citizens who carry a student visa to any one of three U.S.-Mexico border checkpoints in El Paso that serve tens of thousands of students, white-collar workers and day laborers each day. Students describe their lives and daily challenges »

When she gets to the school each morning, Diaz changes out of her jogging pants and into her uniform skirt.

"Because of the people over there, I don't feel comfortable with the men and stuff, so I wear pants," she explains. "You definitely see a difference here. The streets, they are more clean here than they are in Juarez, and I think the people respect you a little more. You don't have to worry about people giving you trouble."

El Paso, population 734,000, has long enjoyed the benefits of strong community ties with its industrial sister city of approximately 1.5 million. But the violence and insecurity created by the war between the Mexican government and the drug cartels has strained that relationship.

For students at Lydia Patterson, who live in Juarez and cross the bridge each weekday, the small, United Methodist preparatory school has become a safe haven in the months since drug-related violence in Juarez has intensified.

"My school is a home for me because I have teachers and they treat me like parents," says Hazel Barrera, 18. "Here, they take care of us and they make us feel comfortable and safe."

Lydia Patterson's faculty and administrators -- many of whom are graduates of the school, and also reside in Juarez -- say the school's mission is very much the same as it was when it was founded nearly 100 years ago as a sanctuary for Mexican families fleeing the violence of the Mexican Revolution.

"Our students are exceptional, and I always tell them I respect them and I admire their courage because they're living through this horrible time," says the school's president, Socorro Brito de Anda. Video Watch de Anda talk about how cartel violence affects her school »

"There are some students who've had some very horrifying experiences, and we have to be there for them," she says. "Make them feel safe is mainly what we want to do here, make them feel that there's a place where they can go to school and concentrate on school without having to worry about their safety."

Despite the Spartan aesthetic of the school grounds, which occupies a city block in downtown El Paso, most students might agree that Lydia Patterson lives up to de Anda's standards.
Hazel Barrera and other Lydia Patterson students help clean the school to pay for their scholarships.

Hazel Barrera and other Lydia Patterson students help clean the school to pay for their scholarships.

By 7:30 a.m., the cafeteria is buzzing with chatter in English and Spanish of students who come in early for free breakfast. In the open-air courtyard that divides a pair of red-brick, two-story buildings of classrooms, students sit alone and in groups, reading books and exchanging gossip. In between classes, they gather in the office of their beloved student activities coordinator, an alumnus who helps them study history and plan activities.

After classes, students linger as long as they can before it gets dark, chatting in empty classrooms with bars and gates over the windows and doors. Many stay for team sports or clubs, others contribute to the school's upkeep -- a stipulation of the scholarships that more than two-thirds receive.

If a soccer game or yearbook meeting ends late, the school ensures that a teacher, coach or parent escorts the students over the bridge, oftentimes, all the way home.

"There are teachers who can take us home because they are close to us and they want to be sure that we come home safe," Hazel says. "I don't feel like it's two countries, I feel like it's two homes." Video Watch Hazel talk about her two homes »

Since Mexican border towns became battlefields in the drug war, American towns like El Paso have become refuges for middle- and upper-class Mexicans.

Many have moved their businesses stateside; the El Paso real estate market is seeing an influx of Mexican nationals and green card-carriers from Juarez purchasing homes and relocating their families.

Families that cannot give up their lives in Juarez send their children to schools like Lydia Patterson, which has accepted 25 new students from Mexico since January.

The instability in Juarez has sent ripple effects through the school.
Series: Drug Cartels
This is the third in CNN.com's four-part series on drug cartels.

Monday: Authorities are taking on Mexico's drug cartels as the groups' tentacles extend into the U.S.

Tuesday: Torture a hallmark of the more than 1,000 kidnappings in Phoenix, Arizona, since 2006

Thursday: From moonshine to marijuana, a look at the evolving drug problem in rural America

"We've had more inquiries from parents wanting to bring students to our school because of security, but on the other hand, they're struggling financially because many have had to close their business in Juarez due to the violence, so they're looking for a safe place for their children," de Anda says.

"I've had parents in my office crying and pleading for us to take their children. They say the part of the day that their children are in school is the only time they don't fear for their safety," she says.

Ask any student walking through Lydia Patterson's fluorescent-lit hallways how "narcotrafico" related violence has affected him or her, and most relay some vignette about a relative or neighbor who was robbed at gunpoint, extorted with death threats or caught in the middle of gunfire.

Diaz remembers the time she and some friends were walking to the mall when they spotted a crowd swarming around a body.

"They told us that it had happened just a few minutes before, and it was like, wow, if we were there only a few minutes earlier, maybe it could've been us," she says, smiling nervously at the thought.

Many of the teens at Lydia Patterson appear trapped between two worlds: one in which society tells them they're not safe, and another in which they feel such fears are exaggerated.

The violence in Juarez has curtailed the social lives of Diaz and her friends, as their parents forbid them from going out after school or after dark on the weekends.

"It's not that they don't trust my friends or the things I do, but they're seriously worried that I may be in the wrong place at the wrong time and that something might happen to me," says Irvinn Ceja, 16. Video Watch Irvinn describe how drug violence has changed his life »

Ceja says he is concerned more for his parents' safety than his own.

"I think that especially my dad, he's the one who works, he's a salesman, he works in the streets, he has to visit his clients, has to offer his products, so most of his time is on the streets driving and that's a big cause of stress because anything might happen," Ceja says.

Parents view Lydia Patterson as a means of elevating their family above the instability of Juarez.
Don't Miss

* Phoenix residents oblivious to violence, even next door
* Stakes rise as drug war threatens to cross border
* Former Mexican president calls for legalizing marijuana
* Teen made $50,000 taking drugs across border

"What would have become of my children if they stayed in Ciudad Juarez? Our lives changed the moment we were able to leave the danger, the fear of going out in the streets," says Maria Isabel Munoz Bustamante, whose daughter graduated from Lydia Patterson five years ago, and has a son, Alejandro, enrolled in his senior year. "We were nearly at the point of being another statistic in Ciudad Juarez, just a number."

The situation is Juarez also affects students who live in El Paso.

Mari Brito says her father's import business has taken a hit, and the family doesn't visit relatives in Juarez as much anymore.

Also gone are the days when Brito would cross freely between El Paso and Juarez to hang out with friends. Their contact is now limited to the school day and the Internet.

"We used to have all kinds of fun [in Juarez] and now we can't anymore because we don't know if it's safe," says Brito, whose parents sent her to Lydia so she could get in touch with her Mexican roots.
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Like many El Pasoans, Brito sympathizes with the plight of her classmates and considers it a problem that extends to her community.

"I've learned to be grateful that I have the opportunity to live in El Paso and to probably care a little more about my neighbor city," she says. "We're all exposed to it because we know of it and we know the danger of it ... , so we've all been through it."

WHO is paying for mexican nationals to attend this US school?

Why is it our responsibility to educate any kid from across any border or from anywhere in the world? If these parents are that worried about the violence in Mexico, they should do their best to help restore order to their own country.

Why isn't all parents required to prove they are legally in the United States? Children undocumented in the United States and going to public school should not be allowed. No medical shot records in United States or illegal parents should be the first signs that child and parent must be deported immediately.

But oh no, this would be to easy of a checking system to save Americans' MONEY.

It is widely known that many students from Tijuana claim to live in San Diego to be eligible for public education. Still, detecting which students are crossing the border for public education, would be difficult. That is because many mexican families pay for private schooling in San Diego, and thus are not violating any laws.

What is needed is an auditing system to root out those who are lying and leaching off the tax-payers.

RELATED

El Paso school a haven along violent border

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-157101.html

Originally Posted by vmonkey56

Why isn't all parents required to prove they are legally in the United States? Children undocumented in the United States and going to public school should not be allowed. No medical shot records in United States or illegal parents should be the first signs that child and parent must be deported immediately.

But oh no, this would be to easy of a checking system to save Americans' MONEY.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that all students present in the community must be educated.

In my opinion the Courts did not go far enough in their statement isn't that normal? Does the court actually state that is it is fine to be an illegal immigrant in our country and having your children entered into a school without checking the parents legal status.

ICE should be required to check every parent with children in the Public School System. I bet half the illegal criminal immigrants will self deport.

The parents have to show residence, but don't have to show proof of legal residence status to be in America.

I can show that I am a legal resident can the illegals?

The owner of rental properties don't check legal residence status.

There is no workplace E-Verifying, and the government doesn't even E-Verify at local Employment Commission Offices (unemployment offices).

And there is only about 20 police and sheriff offices using 287g Program throughout our countries.

"We the People" are being displaced and are under total attack.

The Federal Public School System is an illegal immigrant's haven.

I've witnessed first hand, kids crossing the border on foot and by bus to attend schools in the U.S. and always wondered how they are getting away with this. I've also seen them returning to Mexico after the school day in the same fashion. It angers me that the schools are blatantly denying this fact. To what end? Funding of course! To them I say, "Don't use MY tax dollars to educate kids of families that are clearly taking advantage of the system!! You don't have the right to support illegal activity with our money!"

Originally Posted by FedUpinFarmersBranch

School accused of taking Mexican students
Comments:28
by Bob McClay
May 21st, 2009 @ 1:24pm

A video proves conclusively that a charter school in Douglas is accepting students who reside across the border in Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico, Arizona State Schools Chief Tom Horne said Thursday.

Omega Alpha Academy denied the allegations when it was questioned by the Arizona Department of Education in 2008. It provided documentation that all of its students were Arizona residents.

At that time, the executive director of the school, Jose Frisby, wrote the Education Department that, "Before we enroll any student, we require that the student verify his or her Arizona residency. When a student's family cannot provide any of these records... we obtain a certified statement from the Arizona resident with whom the student resides."

More allegations of undocumented students surfaced in April, and the Education Department sent a staff member to videotape evidence.

Horne said,"Contrary to previous denials, Omega Alpha Academy is accepting dozens of students who do not live in Arizona. Videotaped evidence shows students being transported to and from school in several large passenger vans filled with Omega Alpha students that move directly from the school to the Mexican border in the afternoon and directly from the border to the school each morning. "

The superintendent added, "The scheme is open and blatant. Since these vans operate either on school property or in areas immediately adjacent to the property, in full view of school staff, in order to pick up and drop off students, it is impossible that school leadership is unaware of this practice."

Horne noted that the Attorney General's Office has ruled that charter schools are exempt from state jurisdiction over undocumented students. He urged the Legislature to take action immediately to allow the state to stop making its aid payments for the undocumented students.

"I feel that it's a violation of the intent of the law for money to be spent educating students who are residents of Mexico, which has it's own school system," Horne said.

Attorney General Terry Goddard, whose office gave the opinion that charter schools were not subject to state aid requirements, joined Horne in urging lawmakers to close the loophole.

"The state of Arizona is struggling to make ends meet and no area is feeling the squeeze more than our schools," Goddard said. "Providing Arizona students with a quality education msut be lawmakers' top priority as the state weathers this economic crisis.

"Arizona tax dollars should not be used to educate residents of other states, whether that state is California, Utah or Sonora. Funding the schooling of those who do not live in Arizona is a wasteful expenditure that draws money away from critical investment in Arizona students."

KTAR showed Democratic Rep. Ed Ableser a press release about Horne's concerns. He reacted by saying the loophole is wrong.

"Charter schools are just like state run schools. There's no difference. They should be held by the same accountability. They should be held to the same accountability. And if in statute, our public schools are not allowed to do this, then charter schools shouldn't be allowed to either."

Republican Senate President Bob Burns echoed Ableser's concerns, saying he would be willing to hear such legislation if it's introduced. "I don't think we should have our taxpayers paying for the education of foreign students, especially not going to the border, picking them up and transporting them north."

He said the bill could be heard and passed quickly with an emergency clause.

Ablesar said charter schools are treated differently than public schools in the state. "And that's been the problem all along with charter schools in Arizona is that public schools in Arizona are held to a hire standard and charter schools get a free ride. And this is a perfect example of what we need to fix."

View the video:

• www.ade.az.gov


Click on hot topic labeled: Video: Omega Alpha Academy accepting students from Mexico.

• www.oaadouglas.org




http://ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=1165131