[migrawatch-public] [Fwd: [watsonvillebrownberets] Crackdown strips migrant students of privileges]
paz,
Ramiro
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [watsonvillebrownberets] Crackdown strips migrant students of
privileges
Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2007 00:11:27 -0700
From: Luis Angel Alejo <laalejo@msn.com>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
2000 students have been cut off from receiving essential migrant
education services in the PVUSD this past year. 25,000 students have
been cut statewide. This is terrible and the student and parents will
be hurt by being denied critical services!!! What is going on here???
I also doubt if parents are being informed of any appeal rights if they
are told that their child is no longer eligible for services.
LUIS ALEJO
*The Santa Cruz Sentinel, April 28, 2007 *
**
*Crackdown strips migrant students of privileges*
By TOM RAGAN
SENTINEL STAFF WRITER
WATSONVILLE - Talk about bilingual and bicultural.
At 15, Silvino Suarez, a Watsonville High School sophomore, speaks
English with barely an accent. And he speaks nothing but Spanish with
his family, often serving as the family's sole translator.
He can tell you off the cuff that 10 pesos equals a dollar, that Mexican
traffic cops tend to take bribes and that one of the biggest differences
between the United States and Mexico is that there is more job
opportunity here - not there.
Born in the small town of Tangancicuaro, Michoacan, Suarez came to
Watsonville four years ago with his farm-working parents and has managed
to blend in beautifully with the community since.
His teachers speak highly of him and say he holds promise if given the
right guidance - just another bilingual migrant student among the
thousands who attend schools in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District.
*But there's a problem: Silvino spent nearly three months in Mexico from
mid-December to mid-February. And now the school district's Migrant
Office of Education is trying to determine whether he missed school
because his parents were out of work and had to return to Mexico for
economic reasons - or whether he merely overspent his Christmas break.*
*If it turns out to be the latter, Silvino could lose his status as a
migrant student and join nearly 2,000 other students who have been
stripped of their privileges in the district in the past two years under
a crackdown that's occurring not just in the Pajaro Valley but across
the state and country.*
*There are now only 7,000 students who qualify for migrant services
compared with the 9,000 students two years ago, according to Faris
Sabbah, director of the Migrant Education Office for the district.*
*Across the state, there were 300,000 migrant students last year, but
today there are 275,000, according to Ernesto Ruiz, administrator for
the state's Migrant Indian International Office.*
*While the reasons behind the decline in numbers vary, the loss in
migrant status is not necessarily a bad thing, officials say. The fact
that it's taking place, in fact, suggests that migrant families are
becoming more established in the United States and aren't moving around
as much, Sabbah said.*
But there are still instances in which children leave district schools
for extended periods of time, but whether it's justified is increasingly
being called into question.
"We try to encourage parents to keep their children in school, but
sometimes they have no choice," said Sabbah. "Our first choice is always
that they stay in school, and that the parents leave them with a
relative if they have to absolutely leave town"
In Silvino's case, it came down to either stay with his aunt in
Watsonville or go back to Mexico with his parents.
He chose Mexico.
"My grandma wanted to see me," said Silvino, a quiet teenager who, by
teacher accounts, asks a lot of questions in all his classes and is
interested in learning.
But now he's playing academic catchup as a result of his absence, and he
may not qualify for the federally funded Job Placement Program, where he
earned $400 last year helping younger students with their science projects.
In fact, $200 of the money helped pay for his flight back to Tijuana
while the other half was spent in Mexico when he was there - on food,
clothes and drinks.
"My brother turned it into a money order and sent it to Mexico," he
said, adding that the money was waiting for him on the other end.
Migrant working families often make a beeline for Mexico once their
field jobs wind down.
The school district has learned to adjust to the academic exodus.
Last year Watsonville High School put a new policy in place that allows
students to make up classes within 10 days of their return from
Christmas break in January.
For some teachers, seasonal absence of students has become a fact of
life in their classrooms.
"The last thing we want to do is break up the family," said Debra
Finney, an English language teacher who said Silvino has been making a
"concerted effort to improve his situation" since his return. "Gosh,"
she added, "if my parents were leaving me, I would want to go with them"
She said Silvino's conversational English is top of the line, but when
it comes down to reading something in a textbook, the knowledge and
comprehension aren't as great.
"His social skills are way up here," she said, motioning with her hand.
"But his academic skills are way down here"
More time in the classroom, she said, should shore up that gap over time.
But unfortunately, Silvino comes from a poor family that has to work,
and that often gets in the way of school instruction, especially if the
family decides to move after next year's harvest.
Silvino's mother and father, who are picking strawberries these days in
the fields that surround Watsonville, declined to be interviewed for
this story.
"They're embarrassed about it," said Silvino.
Ruiz, who works at the state level, said families have to make more of
an effort to stay together.
"Parents have to realize that if their children are to graduate, then
they have to stay in school," he said. "Some realize that and make
sacrifices and stay in their residences until their children graduates
from high school. Others don't"
As for Silvino, he's not sure what he'll do next year, if presented with
the same sort of dilemma.
"I'm not sure," he said.
Contact Tom Ragan at tragan@santacruzsentinel.com
<mailto:tragan@santacruzsentinel.com?subject=Crackdown%20strips%20migrant%20students%20of%20privileges>.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can find this story online at:
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2007/April/28/local/stories/03local.htm
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