With all of the current media attention to the issue of
immigration in the US, one area seems to get overlooked- that is educating the
immigrant children that show up in our public schools. How is their enrollment
to be handled? Most don’t have transcripts from their school in other
countries- some may never have been to school. Many students appear on the
front steps of schools with no health records and no record of
immunizations. What about placement? How
does the enrolling school know what grade to place a student in? And of course,
the overarching issue is what to do about the language barrier since these
stu8denst don’t speak English.
For those educators watching this issue, some are keeping an
eye on a case currently being played out in Collier County, Florida. This week
a federal judge stopped the school district’s attempt to end a lawsuit on
behalf of English Language Learners(ELL) who were denied an education in the public
schools. The district superintendent denied enrollment to six students stating
that since they could not possibly graduate from high school on time, they should
be sent to a special non-credit program to learn English. The Southern Poverty
Law Center in Atlanta, has filed the suit on behalf of the students. According
to the Center,” Federal and state law mandate that schools offer children in
their jurisdiction, regardless of immigration status, access to free public education.”
This case, now almost a year old, does not address the issue of whether or not
the students are undocumented nor does it deal with the issue that their parents,
or even students themselves may be deported.
It should be noted that Collier County is one of only two
counties in Florida that has agreed to cooperate with ICE regarding the
detention of undocumented immigrants.
If you are having
similar issues in your state, please post a comment and share the information.
c.2017 J. Margolis
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