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FB schools have different view of immigrants

Most students are Hispanic, and state law requires bilingual education

09:27 PM CST on Saturday, January 20, 2007

By KATHERINE LEAL UNMUTH / The Dallas Morning News

FARMERS BRANCH – On a recent Friday afternoon, a kindergarten class of white, black and Latino children stands in a circle, laughing and singing the hokeypokey in Spanish.

American and Mexican flags hang side by side on the wall at Janie Stark Elementary. The class is part of a pilot dual-language program that teaches students half the day in English and half in Spanish.

In many ways, the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school district is at odds with the path the city of Farmers Branch is taking with its recent measures targeting illegal immigrants.

The Farmers Branch City Council declared English the official language. But the school district still offers bilingual education – as required by state law – and continues to send mailings and hold parent classes in Spanish and other languages.

City measures could eventually allow police and apartment managers to check people's immigration status. But the school district emphasizes that any child is welcome, regardless of status, thanks to a 1982 Supreme Court ruling.

"As I told the city manager years ago, what you do in the city is one thing," said school trustee Nancy Strickland, a former Spanish teacher who has lived in the same house in Farmers Branch since 1965. "We are here to teach children, and that is not a political game for us."

The morning after the city immigration measures passed, Stark principal Abby McCone received a phone call.

"A little girl called and asked if she could come to school," she said. "I said, 'Yes, honey, you better hurry.' "

Like all public schools in Farmers Branch, Stark has a student population that is overwhelmingly Latino – 76 percent. Last year, more than half of the children were classified as limited English proficient, and nearly three-quarters were low-income.

City Council member Tim O'Hare, the driving force behind the city's measures, cited declining schools among the reasons to target illegal immigrants. Some of his supporters also talk about increased gang activity, high dropout rates and a general lack of parental involvement in schools.

Seeing quality results

District officials admit to challenges. But "as for education being down, that is not true," Superintendent Annette Griffin said. "The reason we can say that is because every school in Farmers Branch is recognized."

The district has focused on strong Advanced Placement and gifted programs in addition to career academies at its high schools. In the fall, it celebrated its overall rating from the state bumping up from acceptable to recognized.

Not everybody's happy. Farmers Branch students feed into Carrollton's R.L. Turner High School. Its student body is about 50 percent low-income and 69 percent Hispanic, much higher than the district's other high schools. Newman Smith High comes closest at 32 percent low-income and 36 percent Hispanic.

Some concerned parents mentioned busing as a way to even out the numbers, an idea Dr. Griffin dismissed.

"There are people that move out of Farmers Branch on a daily basis because they're not happy with the schools," Mr. O'Hare said.

Though the district doesn't ask anyone's status, Mr. O'Hare said it enrolls a lot of children of illegal immigrants.

"It's common sense, plain as day and everyone knows it," he said.

Dr. Griffin said she is concerned that the district gives diplomas to illegal immigrant students who will be unable to work in this country legally.

"I hope the federal government will take a stand on this and determine what the status is," she said. "I want them to decide. Is there going to be a guest worker program? Will people be legalized?"

The school district has kept out of the public eye on the city's debate, wary of the spectacle at recent meetings. Administrators have avoided calling parents together to address the city measures.

"People from both sides could show up," district spokeswoman Angela Shelley said. "We don't want controversy."

Instead, district officials directed teachers to handle most of the communication. At Farmers Branch Elementary School, third-grade bilingual teacher Cruz Douglas said some children expressed fears that someone might take them out of school.

"I'm sure they heard their parents talking," she said. "I just reassured them that nothing was going to change here. They knew they would be safe."

In one incident, a Vivian Field Middle School parent complained that a substitute teacher told students they were not allowed to speak Spanish in class.

District officials would say only that "appropriate action" was taken and declined to comment on specifics.

Turner student Adair Aranda, 17, said the city's measures prompted a few comments initially but no major uproar among students.

"I heard someone say, 'You can't talk Spanish anymore or you'll get arrested,' " he said. "They didn't know what they were talking about."

Adair often jokes with friends on the soccer team in Spanish. His mother, once illegal, is now a legal resident. His parents have attended several City Council meetings in protest of recent decisions.

"I chose not to go because I don't want to hate anyone," Adair said.

The city's immigration debate has pitted "neighbor against neighbor," said Tony Muñoz, who has two children at Stark and is a member of the city's school-community relations board.

"We're sending mixed messages," he said. "We're wanting Hispanic parents to be involved. This [ordinance] conflicts with involvement."

Changing demographics

Like many of the suburban districts that ring Dallas, the Carrollton-Farmers Branch district is losing white students at the same time it is rapidly gaining Hispanics. Many of them are from immigrant families who live in poverty.

"You get such an influx of illegal immigrants coming in that it takes away from the time being taught to the regular students ... it's not letting our kids be educated to the point they need to be to have a fair chance at college," parent Rick Johnson said. "If inside and out of school, we keep coddling illegal immigrants, one day they're going to overrun us."

Cindy Goodspeed, a Stark PTA member, sees the city immigration measures as an economic development tool. The school district's strong gifted and special education programs are what prompted her to return to the district after private schooling.

"Enrollment might move down, but it will enhance growth in our city," Ms. Goodspeed said. "There are people supporting Farmers Branch ... being in a city that abides by the laws is enticing to families."

Many parents see the immigration issue in terms of a district's limited resources.

"You're spending assets and money to address a certain segment," parent David Kirby said. "Obviously, that takes money away from another group."

Though Mr. Kirby and his oldest children attended Stark, he transferred his youngest child to a Carrollton school with an exemplary rating and a much lower poverty rate.

'Very tranquil'

On a recent afternoon, Rogelio Cruz sits at the wheel of his truck, waiting to pick up his daughter from Stark Elementary. He seeks what many of the white middle-class families wanted when they settled in the suburb decades ago.

Unhappy with his children's slow progress in learning English in a Dallas school, he moved to a home in Farmers Branch two years ago. He's been much happier with their education.

"It's very tranquil here," he said. "My children are treated very well in the schools. Much better than in Dallas."

But the immigration measures have made his relatives from Dallas afraid to visit, he said.

"There are people who don't want us here," he said.

Prudencio Alvarado is an illegal immigrant who lives with relatives in a house in Farmers Branch. He has two children in school. He spoke fearfully about police stopping Hispanics for no reason and planned to move out of Farmers Branch, saying, "They're crazy here."

"At the school, everything is equal. In the streets, things are different," he said.