Upset!As a Mexican-American beagle, this truly upsets me! Its 2006 for goodness sake! For sure it is not like this at the schools where Karla works... the Anglo kids are given the same respect and taught at the same level as the Mexican-American and African-Americans.
North Dallas School still segregating...
By Laura Rodriguez/MALDEF
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Because of Spanish Surnames all Latino kids are in ESL...
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS - Today, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the nation's leading Latino legal organization, filed suit in federal district court against the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) and the principal of Preston Hollow Elementary School alleging civil rights violations by segregating and discriminating against Latino schoolchildren.
The Latino parents represented by MALDEF, Organización para el Futuro de los Estudiantes (OFE), allege that Preston Hollow illegally uses its English as a Second Language program to segregate Latino and minority students from Anglo students, irrespective of their language abilities. The documents in the case show that Latino students who are proficient in English are, nonetheless, channeled into classes masked as "English as a Second Language." Preston Hollow organizes its general education classes and even combines some grades to ensure that Anglo students, who comprise just 18 percent of the school, sit in majority white classrooms.
"Fifty years after Brown v. the Board of Education, it is a shame that segregation continues to plague our schools," said David Hinojosa, MALDEF staff attorney and lead counsel in the case. "Using ESL as a proxy to segregate schoolchildren can not be tolerated. This lawsuit is intended to send a message that there is no justification for any school to treat Latino students any differently than white students," Hinojosa added.
Ms. Lucresia Mayorga Santamaria, lead plaintiff and mother of three children attending Preston Hollow, stated "The school attempted to omit Latino children from the school brochure because they did not want the surrounding neighborhood to get the wrong impression. Well, I hope they all get this impression: we will not stand by any longer because our children deserve the same opportunities as all other children of Preston Hollow."
Calling on the leadership of Dallas ISD to now answer Latino parents' calls for justice, Mr. Hinojosa added, "We condemn efforts such as these to keep white students together for the sake of deterring white flight. We call on the superintendent and the Dallas Board to swiftly end the segregation at Preston Hollow," Mr. Hinojosa added.
Founded in 1968, MALDEF, the nation's premier Latino civil rights organization, promotes and protects the rights of Latinos through advocacy, litigation, community education and outreach, leadership development, and higher education scholarships
And I am sure the recent walkouts by the Mexican-American kids made them look even less appealing to the operators at Preston Hallow, but the truth is, we should be proud to have kids who care about their world this much!!! In any case, the Superintendent, Michael Hinojosa, is himself Mexican-American. This should be fixed NOW!!!.
4 comments:
AAAAGGGGHHHH! Very frustrating indeed! It is extremely hard to believe that segregation can continue today and you are right on when you say the problem needs to be corrected immediately!!Living in El Paso all my life, I never had to experience this kind of treatment. Moving to the Pacific Northwest, it's so laid back here that there really is no BIG problem, but it is still a problem and it is eye opening! Nick's school has 7% Hispanics and so he feels a difference in the way Mexican American's are treated (speaking of his peers.) but I can only be proud of him for holding his head up high and proving his peers wrong as he continues to excel by keeping a high GPA and succeeding in sports. He is proud of his heritage and is not afraid to speak up about it.
OK, enough from me! Love you Logan! Your Auntie, Glo
First off, get the facts. The parent and the legal Latino group are clueless as to the federal regs about the placement and requirements for the education of students who are not Limited English Proficient (LEP). Of course the classrooms of the students who are non LEP are predominatly Anglo, go figure... It is a joke and a mockery of the legal system to file this frivolous lawsuit at the cost of all American tax payers. If this parent was so upset about her children being placed in an ESL classroom and being mistreated, she could have sign a denial letter 6 years ago when her child was in Kindergarten. Why has it taken her so long to all of the sudden realize that her children have been discriminated against? Get your facts before you speak, otherwise you simply appear ignorant.
Well I am glad that someone else reads this... :-) Please be sure to show your facts by at least having the honor to post your name and where your facts come from. If mine seem a bit out of balance with yours, then I apologize, but at least I can state a place where they came from. MALDEF and OFE. Please do not take this the wrong way, because if you really do have facts to the contrary, then please post their origination points. However for you or anyone to say that this is a frivolous law suit is ridiculous. Governments and organizations in our great nation can be kept in check only when there is the ability to file suit by the average citizen. Besides if anyone can afford a little "frivolity" (your word, not mine), it’s the Preston Hollow area. Show me your facts and I will print a retraction, but just calling someone ignorant without anything to support your "facts" is not exactly exemplary.
I condemn the placement of Hispanic children in ESL classrooms. If a child is born or brought up in this country her/his first language should be English, it’s just plain common sense. Bilingual and English as a second language (ESL) programs were design to brand Latinos for the rest of their academic lives. According to research Bilingual and ESL students are less successful in college then their white counterparts . Latino children in bilingual or ESL classrooms are deprived from the opportunity to learn English. The bilingual and ESL programs are unsuccessful, an excuse to separate, and to take away opportunities for collaboration with mainstream culture. When any child of any culture is segregated from the mainstream the chances for that child to be successful are very limited. The main reason why bilingual and ESL programs exist is to create new generations of people receiving public assistance and a labor force such: as maids, construction workers, cooks, minimal unskilled, blue collar etc. However, some Latinos may become criminals. The mainstream community needs to promote English among Latino children instead of Spanish, these children already know to speak Spanish from their parents, they are proud of their heritage, However they need interaction with the mainstream, strong English skills, reading and writing in order to become responsible and productive citizens. Children are our future give them a chance to excel, do not set them up for failure.
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