Thread: TULSA: Hispanic enrollment drops at some schools

Hispanic enrollment drops at some schools


By ANDREA EGER World Staff Writer
9/14/2007


Their parents picked them up from school in a car jam-packed with belongings and a U-haul trailer hitched to the bumper.

That was the first sign.

When the three students did not show up for class the next morning, that is how Principal Judy Feary knew for sure that Kendall-Whittier Elementary School had lost a few more Hispanic students.

"The parents had gone home and packed during the day. They were picking up their kids and heading back to Mexico," Feary said.

Enrollment at Kendall-Whittier has rebounded significantly since the first day of school, when 18 percent of the school's 1,000 students failed to show up.

Now the school is reporting an enrollment downturn of just 40 students compared with 180 around this date in August, but Feary said more and more Hispanic students are leaving all the time for Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, California and Mexico -- anywhere but here.

"We're hearing that many of them are planning to leave in October, before the law takes effect," Feary said.

She was referring to House Bill 1804, which takes effect Nov. 1. It requires law enforcement agencies to check the immigration status of people who are arrested in felony and drunken-driving cases and also contains measures to prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining employment and public benefits.

The departure of some immigrant families, combined with the reluctance of some remaining in Tulsa to send their children to school, is having an impact on schools across the city.

Gary Lytal, the assistant to the superintendent for school and district accountability, said preliminary enrollment data suggest that Tulsa Public Schools has had the smallest percentage increase in Hispanic students in recent years, up by just 0.72 percent, compared with 1 percent to 1.5 percent increases previously.

At Kendall-Whittier, 2601 E. Fifth Place, the loss of 40 students already has cost one teacher's position.

"Many of the children are stressed," Feary said. "We had one mother deported last week who was picked up on an outstanding traffic ticket. She left her children (here) with relatives. We've also had some children tell us their parents are telling them what to do if they don't come home from work, how to stay safe at home and what relatives to call.

"That's a lot of pressure to put on a child."

Rosenstein, Fist and Ringold, the law firm that represents TPS and more than 300 other school districts in Oklahoma, has advised its school clients not to ask about the citizenship of any student or differentiate between students in any special services or programs.

The difficulty in getting some students to attend school is in convincing parents that their children will be safe there.

At Celia Clinton Elementary School, 1740 N. Harvard Ave., student enrollment is up slightly. But Principal Cindy Taylor said 13 of 15 Hispanic students in prekindergarten and kindergarten who were absent on the first day of school still have not shown up.

"We've heard some of them moved to Texas or Kansas, but many of them are here, and their parents won't send them to school because they're concerned that (the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency) is going to take their kids," Taylor said. "Our school interpreter tried to reassure them, but they were too afraid."

Taylor said a school employee who attends a church in the Celia Clinton neighborhood told her that its pastor was warning Hispanic parents that their children could be taken at school. She asked the employee to set the pastor straight.

"My biggest concern is that by next year, some of these kids will be really behind in language and everything else. It's going to kind of spiral down," she said.

Principal Karen Vance of Rosa Parks Elementary School in the Union district, said its number of Hispanic students has remained unchanged, but some faces are different.

"Some previous students have been replaced by new ones moving in, because some families have chosen to move to other states that have friendlier legislation," Vance said.

Administrators at Rogers High School in Tulsa apparently succeeded in preventing an enrollment decline.

The school's registrar, who is bilingual, attended a Hispanic community meeting in August to address parents' concerns and questions.

And Rogers administrators met with the priest at a nearby Catholic church with a large Hispanic population to solicit his help in reassuring parents.

"TPS is taking the stand that we're here to educate and help the students, so everyone should be enrolled," Assistant Principal Lyda Wilbur said. "We want all students to come to school regardless of their legal status."


Comments at link

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article. ... RWorl88676

This sounds like the schools are actually soliciting the illegal immigrants. I know it presents a quandry as the federal financial assistance is dependent on the head count. I hope they can find a way to opt for the greater good.

Teachers can always find positions. We are importing teachers from other countries. Illegals are heading toward cities that don't check IDs. Now all we need to do is cut off federal funding to those cities and all the illegals will leave.

America has woken up...and is not going to take it anymore.

Children of illegal aliens are wrecking the budgets of school systems. Get them out of the country and out of America's schools! Let your property taxes pay for something that will benefit the legal citizens, not law breakers.

We have GOT to stop our tax dollars from funding help for illegal activity. We are being forced to pay our own way into Hell!