Thread: Vote adds grades 9-12 to mostly Somali school

Vote adds grades 9-12 to mostly Somali school

By Maureen Magee
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. August 8, 2009

SAN DIEGO — A charter school serving mostly Somali students from in and around City Heights received permission from a divided San Diego school board Tuesday to expand its program to include high schoolers.

Over the objections of district Superintendent Terry Grier and others, the school board voted 3-2 to grant Iftin Charter School in City Heights authority to open a high school in fall 2010.

Opponents, including one of Iftin's founders, argued that the school offers a racially isolated environment – 93 percent of its students are Somali in a community where roughly 14 percent of residents are of African descent.

In addition, critics said campus leaders have no viable plans to diversify the student body so that it more accurately reflects City Heights and the San Diego Unified School District.

Educators, parents and students from Iftin pleaded with the board to grant their expansion, saying students need a chance to continue learning in a safe setting with a solid academic program.

Board President Shelia Jackson and trustees Richard Barrera and John Lee Evans voted to grant the request, saying the campus demographics were not reason enough to halt the school's growth – especially because its test scores have risen dramatically in recent years.

“If we deny this opportunity, we are denying kids a path to success that the school has proven,â€

Great more illegals.

Originally Posted by ELE

Great more illegals.

They aren't illegal. They come here legally as refugees.

A Profile of Somali Refugees in the United States

The Somali Arrival to the United States. African immigration to the United States has increased dramatically over the past three ...

paa2006.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=61036


Immigration in MN
Most Somalis who now live in Minnesota came to the United States as refugees. ... providing businesses and services to other Somali immigrants, ...
www.minneapolisfoundation.org/immigration/africa.htm - Cached - Similar

Somali Immigrant Settlement in Small Minnesota and Wisconsin ..."Somali Immigrant Settlement in Small Midwestern U.S. Communities: The Case of Barron, Wis.," was published as a chapter in From Mogadishu to Dixon: The ...
academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/somali.html -

Wait until the Mexicans find out that the Somalis get private school,

they'll be demanding private schools too.