Thread: Group faults Durham schools' treatment of Latinos

Group faults Durham schools' treatment of Latinos
TOM BREEN, Associated Press
Published 11:51 a.m., Wednesday, April 13, 2011


RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — One of North Carolina's largest school districts is discriminating against Latino students and their parents by failing to provide them with adequate resources, according to a nationally known civil rights advocacy group threatening to file a federal complaint.

But while the Southern Poverty Law Center's criticism is directed at Durham public schools, the dispute raises questions for districts around the state, where Latinos have become the fastest-growing segment of the school-age population. Linguistic hurdles, income gaps and lack of access to services like health care all contribute to making Latino children especially vulnerable, according to groups who study the issue.

"We have really serious situations where youngsters are feeling unwelcome in their schools," said Jerri Katzerman, director of educational advocacy for the Birmingham, Ala.-based SPLC. "Youngsters routinely endure name-calling, they're called slurs. There are teachers and students who will mock them, their accents and their lack of English language ability."

Lawyers for the district are reviewing the center's accusations, schools spokeswoman Tahira Stalberte said.

"We are committed to providing appropriate services to all students in Durham public schools and to complying with the requirements of federal law in serving students of all nationalities," she said.

The law center's complaint alleges problems in four areas: a hostile environment for students, limited access to Spanish language interpreters for parents and students, inadequate translation of school materials like report cards, progress reports and teachers' notes and lack of compliance with federal requirements for communicating with parents of children with low English proficiency.

In one case, Katzerman said, a student who had successfully completed coursework for students learning English was required to take an English proficiency test when he move to a new school because of his Latino surname. More broadly, the center says there are three Spanish language interpreters for Durham's 54 public schools, which serve roughly 6,000 Spanish-speaking households, a ratio the group says is inadequate to meet the needs of parents and their children.

"To the extent that translation is happening at all, it's extremely erratic," Katzerman said. "Some things are translated, some aren't. We have parents who routinely feel inhibited from being able to be a part of the school community, because they receive very limited information in Spanish."

The law center wants to meet with Durham schools officials to discuss its concerns, warning that it will file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights if the district doesn't take steps to change the situation.

With over 32,500 students, Durham is one of the largest school districts in the state. About 21 percent of its students are Latino.

Some members of Durham's Latino community have complained about treatment in the schools to El Centro Hispano, a community organization based in the city that also serves Chapel Hill and Carrboro, according to Pilar Rocha-Goldberg, the organization's president. But Rocha-Goldberg said El Centro has had success acting as a mediator between the schools and the community.

"We work with parents, we work with kids, we also work with the Durham public schools," she said. "They've been open to talk to us, and we're in the process to see how we can resolve some of these issues."

The Latino population among school-age North Carolinians has risen as dramatically as the percentage of Latinos overall in the state. Between 2000 and 2010, the overall Latino population in the state more than doubled, to over 800,000. Latinos make up about 12 percent of the state's child population, according to Action for Children North Carolina, which issued reports last year on immigrant children generally and Latinos specifically.

The reports found that children from Latino families face a number of unique challenges, ranging from language barriers to living in so-called "mixed status" families, in which the children may be citizens of the U.S. while the parents may be in the country illegally.

"They're definitely facing barriers to services," said Mandy Ableidinger, director of policy and budget analysis for Action for Children. "Often if they're in mixed-status families, it makes parents very unwilling to seek out services for their children, even if their children are American citizens."

Latino children are still performing significantly below state averages on reading and math tests, with just 17 percent of Latino 4th-graders achieving a rating of "proficient" or better on reading tests. Challenges include growing up in households where most adults speak only Spanish, and widespread economic woe: about 73 percent of Latino children live in low-income households, according to the group's research, compared to the state average of roughly 43 percent.

The reports say that about 84 percent of Latino children in North Carolina are citizens, and that about 78 percent are fluent in English.

"Mostly what we're talking about is American kids who aren't getting services," Ableidinger said.
http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/ ... z1JRYHA7tG

Apparently, these schools don't realize that Hispanic students are special and require services above and beyond those available to citizen students.

"To the extent that translation is happening at all, it's extremely erratic," Katzerman said. "Some things are translated, some aren't. We have parents who routinely feel inhibited from being able to be a part of the school community, because they receive very limited information in Spanish."

Then they can do what millions of other immigrants have done, have their kids, family member or one of their many "advocates" translate for them! Do like I did, learn to speak ENGLISH!! My parents translator was ME!

I don't hear this whining from other ethnic groups, why is that??? In my area we have a high percentage of immigrants from India and the Middle East, as well as multiple Asian countries and guess what??? They don't whine or make DEMANDS. They bring their own translators and their kids STAY in school.

I just don't get these people , they sneak in here and then make demands

Its time to plow the road

"We have really serious situations where youngsters are feeling unwelcome in their schools," said Jerri Katzerman, director of educational advocacy for the Birmingham, Ala.-based SPLC. "Youngsters routinely endure name-calling, they're called slurs. There are teachers and students who will mock them, their accents and their lack of English language ability.

"This is a fn lie pure and simple!" and leads up to "We need our own school!"
As much as SPLC peddles this fabricated fairy tale there is no proof!

SPLC should be sued, over and over by legal immigrants, until they are no more. I wonder how much federal funds they receive?

Originally Posted by stevetheroofer

"We have really serious situations where youngsters are feeling unwelcome in their schools," said Jerri Katzerman, director of educational advocacy for the Birmingham, Ala.-based SPLC. "Youngsters routinely endure name-calling, they're called slurs. There are teachers and students who will mock them, their accents and their lack of English language ability.

"This is a fn lie pure and simple!" and leads up to "We need our own school!"
As much as SPLC peddles this fabricated fairy tale there is no proof!

SPLC should be sued, over and over by legal immigrants, until they are no more. I wonder how much federal funds they receive?

To many , the same as la raza and the naacp

Seriously, does anyone (other than la raza) take these so called "demands" serious any longer, especially since we are being invaded by the same people making the demands.