25523: Nlbo: (locally published)Haitian families question Unz reforms (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Nlbo@aol.com

http://www2.townonline.com/cambridge/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=277681
Haitian families question Unz reforms
By Sarah Andrews/ Chronicle Staff
Thursday, June 30, 2005

Haitian native Enock Jules fears his kids will soon be forced to leave the
Graham and Parks School, which they've attended for the past year.
     
"[I] would like to see all Haitian students stay at the Graham and Parks," he
said through an interpreter. "Why, when they learn English, do they have to
move to another school?"
     Last month, almost 20 Haitian parents, including Jules, wrote a letter
to the School Committee stating that, since the 2002 Unz Initiative, they feel
there's an "unfair policy" for moving Haitian students out of bilingual
classes at Graham and Parks, home of the former Haitian bilingual program.
     Because the parents aren't fluent in English, an interpreter delivered
the letter.
     While the policy, a state mandate that applies to all bilingual
students, may not be within the school district's control, it seems some parents never
received proper notice of its effects.
     "No one tells us," said Jules, who had little knowledge of Cambridge's
school choice policy and who is not fluent in English. "[The schools] do not
provide an interpreter."
     The School Department does employ a Haitian Family Liaison, though Jules
said he's never met him.
     In 2002, the Unz Intiative passed in Massachusetts with 68 percent of
the vote. The law states immigrant students can only receive one year of
bilingual education, called Sheltered English Immersion, before being transferred, or
"mainstreamed," into English-only classes.
     But because SEI programs only exist at a few schools in Cambridge - the
Graham and Parks, Tobin and King Schools - immigrant students first choose to
go to one of these and then, once they're mainstreamed, must reapply to the
district through the regular school choice lottery process. Seats at their first
school are not guaranteed.
     This has been of particular issue at Graham and Parks, which was the
third most chosen school among parents this year. Its popularity means seats are
scarce.
     At a recent School Committee meeting, Jim Maloney, the chief operations
officer, pointed out the issue affected all bilingual students, not just
Haitians. Half of the students in the current SEI classes are Haitian. 
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Haitian families question Unz reforms
[continued from previous page]
"There is some confusion about the Unz Initiative. Some people do not
understand and think the [Haitian bilingual] program still exists and that we are
still able to assign [students to schools] based on race, language and
ethnicity," he said.
     Last year, 19 bilingual students mainstreamed at the Graham and Parks.
Of these, 16 were able to stay, said Maloney, two chose another school and one
moved away.
     But this year, 16 bilingual students mainstreamed, and only two were
able to stay at Graham and Parks. Five chose to immediately leave the school and
nine others decided to stay in the bilingual program until the end of this
year, when they'll have to find other available seats.

     
Maloney said officials have met to discuss possible solutions. One, which has
been thus far rejected by staff, would be to increase class sizes from 20 to
25 to accommodate mainstreaming bilingual students.
     
Maloney also suggested a route taken by Korean bilingual students at the
Morse School, who decided to move to the Tobin when it became clear the school
didn't have enough room. The Tobin now has a Korean language program, which
differs from SEI.
     But Jules said "no" to this idea.
    
 "Sending my child to another school would make the adaptive process longer,"
he said. "If he stays at the same school, he already has friends, knows his
teachers and environment."
     Another issue is the seeming lack of representation for Haitian parents.
No Haitian parent serves on the school's Steering Committee, an elected body,
and Jules said the only people he communicates with at Graham and Parks are
his children's teachers.
    
 School Committee member Richard Harding said schools should communicate more
aggressively with bilingual parents.
    
 "We have to figure out who is the voice [for this population]," he said. "We
need to get somebody in there who is affected by [these issues]." 

Contact Sarah Andrews at sandrews@cnc.com.