Barely
one day after Virginia U.S. Senator Timothy M. Kaine made history delivering an
historic 14-minute speech entirely in Spanish to the U.S. Senate about
immigration reform -- and only after representatives of Huguenot High School Hispanic students, family members and community leaders threatened to take their protest
to the streets -- RPS administrators (finally) agreed to meet and discuss
community concerns that Latino students have been subjected to illegal search
and seizure and threatened with deportations and arrests. [To hear students talk about these incidents, CLICK HERE].
Some
present at the Wednesday afternoon meeting described it as an attempt by RPS to
minimize months of mounting tensions and concerns about what many in the Latino
community describe as a pattern of demeaning and humiliating actions against
Latino students by security guards, teachers and the principal at Huguenot High
School. In exchange for a promise “to
communicate better” in the future, school officials hoped to persuade protest
rally organizers to call off the planned event.
Carolina
Velez, the immigrant justice coordinator at The Wayside Center for Popular
Education, and one of the organizers of the protest, said the meeting included
three parents and four students who met with Huguenot principal, Jafar Barakat.
Velez
told Open Source reporter, Brittany Tracy:
“I would say there was no outcome [….] They recognized some of the
limitations they have [with language]. But they minimized most of what the
parents and students said.”
Velez
said that Barakat admitted to ordering the Latino students to the school
cafeteria to search their persons and possessions: “He said he was sorry for
the hurt feelings, but he’d do it again.”
Given
that Barakat clearly does not understand Constitutional Law or the principles
of positive community relations, perhaps the members of the School Board (two
of whom are lawyers) will be willing to provide him some tutoring the next time
the board meets.
Although
they were not all present at the same time, three members of the School Board
-- Kristen Larson (4th-District), Mamie Taylor (5th-District) and Tichi Pinkney
Eppes (9th-District) – attended the protest last Thursday and heard directly
from students, parents and community organizers.
Larson,
the representative whose district includes Huguenot High School, spoke with
Velez at the protest and vowed to follow-up with her colleagues. She acknowledged that there is a deeper
discussion to be had concerning the issues that not only pertain to Huguenot,
but to schools throughout the district.
Perhaps
one way to start that discussion would be to consider the following data
gleaned from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) website and displayed here in charts
created by John R. Butcher.
Once the board members have studied this data, they might consider asking Victoria Oakley, the assistant Superintendent for Instruction and Accountability, for a report that explains why this situation exists and what she intends to do to fix it.
Once the board members have studied this data, they might consider asking Victoria Oakley, the assistant Superintendent for Instruction and Accountability, for a report that explains why this situation exists and what she intends to do to fix it.
The
latest VDOE data available show a dropout rate for Hispanic students in Richmond
that is nearly double that of white and black students in the district.
 |
The following charts also reveal how Richmond’s graduation rate for all students is inflated by "certificates of completion," “special diplomas,” and "modified diplomas" that can’t even get a kid into the military, much less college or a decent job.
Notice Richmond’s far higher than the state’s average of awarding these "special diplomas," “certificates of completion” and “modified standard diplomas.”
And notice also Richmond’s much lower than the state’s average of awarding “advanced and standard diplomas.”
As someone very familiar with Richmond City Schools, I can tell you that there is at least one middle school where the racial tension is so bad that students have been told to walk to and from school in groups. The racial tension was reported to be between Hispanics and blacks. Unfortunately, it seems that the situation is getting worse.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous@7:17 PM
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. What is the name of the middle school?
Anonymous@2:28 a.m. -- If you will have the courage sign your name, I will post your comment. Your assertions (and spelling) lead me to think you are either a member of RPS administration or a disgruntled School Board member.
ReplyDeleteRadio story on this demonstration:
ReplyDeletehttp://kontradictions.wordpress.com/2013/06/19/weekly-sedition-huguenot-high/
I just listened to the radio broadcast noted above and it is excellent! Have a listen ...
ReplyDeleteAnonymous@8:26a.m. -- As I stated yesterday, you need to have the courage to sign your name (your entire name) if you want me to post your comment, especially if you are engaging in what appears to be a baseless ad hominem attack on someone. If you look in the upper right corner of this blog you will see that in the four years I have been writing it that I have had more than 85,000 page views. I do not expect people to agree with me all the time (or even most of the time). I back up what I have to say with facts, facts that are verifiable and I expect that of the people who send comments. In fact, many of the topics I write about come from comments that people send me who specifically ask that I not post their comment, but who want me to investigate a situation they find troubling as it pertains to public education in the City of Richmond. As you can tell if you look at the posts, I love facts. If you do not like my facts or the analysis of those facts, you do not have to continue to read the SaveOurSchools blog. Best wishes, CW
ReplyDelete