Thread: SAN MARCOS H.S. EVENT FOR SPANISH SPEAKING PARENTS

Mission Hills hosts first annual Latino parent night
(held specifically for Latino Spanish-speaking parents)



By: BRENDA DURAN - Staff Writer
March 17, 2007

SAN MARCOS----When parent Arnulfo Moreno got an invitation from Mission Hills High School officials to attend a parent night held specifically for Latino Spanish-speaking parents he said he saw it as the perfect opportunity to start getting more involved in his son's future.

"I want him to succeed," said Moreno whose eighth grade son, Mark, will attend the school next year. "I haven't always been as involved as I've wanted to be, this time I really want to."

Moreno was one of more than 100 Spanish-speaking parents who attended the school's first annual "Gran Convivio de Padres de Mission Hills High School" or "The Grand Parent Gathering of Mission Hills High" which was conducted entirely in Spanish.

The event was a way for the school to motivate Latino parents who do not speak English to participate in school activities and also acquaint them with the school's programs, said Maria Rodriguez, president of Mission Hills High School English Learner Advisory Committee.

"Unfortunately, we've seen a lack of participation from parents who do not speak English," said Rodriguez. "They get shy. We felt this was a good way to motivate them to come out and get involved in their kids' education as much as possible."

Parents from both of the district's middle schools San Marcos and Woodland Park along with those from Mission Hills High were greeted by principal Brad Lichtman, board member Sharon Jenkins and some teachers and school staff before two groups of ballet folkorico and a dance troupe performed for them in the school gymnasium.

Information booths were also set up to offer parents information from the parent-teacher organization, library, parent clubs, English Learner Advisory Committee as well as athletic and extracurricular programs.

Junior Maria De Loera said she had been telling her mom about the event for months.

"I told her she had to come," said Maria who was sitting at the ballet folkorico booth. "She was excited because it was going to be in Spanish and she would understand everything."

Parent Reyna Gonzalez whose daughter Deysi Merino is a ninth grader at the school said she was excited to attend the event and was planning on asking a lot of questions.

"Sometimes, we are not aware of all that is available and how to get involved," said Reyna in Spanish. "Today's event is a good start for all of us."

Parent Elizabeth Cortes whose daughter Cynthia is a sophomore at the school said she did not attend the school's parent night earlier this year because she was intimidated by her language barrier.

"If the school offers us a way to get information in Spanish that's great," said Cortes, who wants to join Mission Hills' parent-teacher organization. "I am always trying to know what's going on, and I want to be part of the school."

After parents munched on taquitos and desserts they participated in a raffle and walked away with Spanish brochures such as "How to take part in your child's education" among many others.

At the end of the event, Arnulfo Moreno said he learned how to enroll his son Mark in the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program at the high school and was pleased to know the school offered an array of resources for him.

"It was great. Its good to know all of these people will help me in supporting my son's success," said Arnulfo in Spanish.

Contact staff writer Brenda Duran at (760) 761-4408 or bduran@nctimes.com.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/03 ... _16_07.txt

Comments On This Story

Mod Edit

Fire up the buses, ICE!

This event was held for Latino-Spanish speaking parents and was held entirely in Spanish, I see this as ahother enablng tool for lazy latinos who refuse to learn to speak English, yes I can see how this would motivate the parents to get involved with their kids in school. If you ask me, this is a way of saying to these parents, "we think you are to dumb to learn English, so we are going to make it very easy for you not to have to put forth effort to learn the language of this country, which is suppose to be English". Thank God, the German, French, Italian, Dutch, Polish, so on and so on, emigrants, are smart enough and amtitious enough to want to learn the language their kids are learning and the language of their new country!

Give this school to Mexico and let Mexican taxpayers support it! I can't believe this! I would jerk my kids out of this school immediately! I would never, never, ever support a school that officially promoted such flagrant "in your face en espanol" behavior towards the American way of life. This is nothing more than a shift in loyalty to south of the border using a public school system on the border as a vehicle. This school should have an event celebrating the history of the U.S. and its founding fathers with booths on the advantages of learning English and where to find language classes, not a bunch of whirling taquito eating morons separating themselves from all other public schools in the U.S.!

That's why they call San Diego Mexico's Finest City.

Mod Edit

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http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/03 ... ogcomments

I posted a reply and the removed any references to being here illegally. I posted this comment:

Last American Citizen in CA wrote on March 17, 2007 11:46 AM:"Here's a thought. How about the parents learning to spek English? If they are going to live here, ..., at least they could learn to speak the language. My mother and I came here when I was a baby from Japan and she learned to speak English. She never asked that I be taught in Japanese, never asked for Japanese only parents nights, never asked I be taught Japanese culture and history. Who do these people think they are? ..., they expect everything be done for them in their own language with no thought of ever learning to speak English. No wonder they call San Diego Mexico's Finest City."

Where they have: ... is where I mentioned that these people are probably mostly illegal. Talk about censorship, I doubt that they edit any posts that call anyone who disagrees with the mass invasion 'racists'.

"Unfortunately, we've seen a lack of participation from parents who do not speak English," said Rodriguez. "They get shy. We felt this was a good way to motivate them to come out and get involved in their kids' education as much as possible."

"They get shy"?! They aren't shy. They just refuse to learn English.

"Sometimes, we are not aware of all that is available and how to get involved," said Reyna in Spanish. "Today's event is a good start for all of us."

If you are here LEGALLY, you will benefit by learning our culture, our customs, and our language. No one is asking you to give up your own traditions.
But- if you are here ILLEGALLY, you need to be caught and DEPORTED!

It's gotten so bad in our town that today they are having a Immigration Health Fair at a school with ENGLISH translation available....

How blatant is this bulletin....

Viva La Raza wrote on March 17, 2007 3:33 AM:"This is a good start! Now we just need to have classes offer English as a Second Language to make things even. We need to ACLU to come in and sue all the schools so that we have equal rights."

What a jackass!!!