Posted on 02/19/2005 7:56:25 AM PST by deepFR
LINCOLN, Neb. - Dick Eisenhauer is tired of watching white families take their children out of the schools in his Nebraska district and enroll them in smaller, outlying ones where there are virtually no poor or Hispanic students.
Like many of Nebraska's school systems, the Lexington district where Eisenhauer is superintendent has seen an influx of Hispanics, largely because of jobs at the meatpacking plants, and an accompanying exodus of white students to public elementary schools just outside town.
And there is nothing Eisenhauer can do about it. Nebraska law allows students to switch schools without giving a reason.
"It bothers you when people come into your town and make comments like `You've got lots of Mexican kids,'" Eisenhauer said. "I feel distressed if they would opt out for that reason."
The situation in Lexington and elsewhere in Nebraska has caught the attention of the state Legislature, which is considering a bill to thwart what some say amounts to legal segregation in the schools.
The proposal would force the outlying elementary-only schools to merge with larger kindergarten-through-12th-grade districts. That could mean the closing of the smaller schools.
Beginning in the 1960s, white flight to the suburbs left many big-city school systems across the country predominantly black. But what is happening in Nebraska is a different phenomenon: The white families are staying put; they are just sending their kids to school outside town.
This is possible because Nebraska, unlike many other states and communities, does not require students to attend the schools in the district in which they live.
As a result, in Lexington, the in-town schools, with an enrollment of 2,500, have 804 students learning English as a second language, and 1,172 who are getting a free or reduced-price lunch. The six outlying elementary schools have about 130 students — none of them English learners, none of them living in poverty, according to the state Education Department.
The situation is similar in and around the small town of Schuyler, which also has seen an influx of Hispanics in recent years. There are 250 students there who are learning to speak English; none of them attend the outlying schools. Of 325 students living in poverty, all but 18 go to school in town.
At the same time, spending per student in the outlying schools is as much as twice as high as spending in the Schuyler grade schools. All public schools in Nebraska are primarily funded with local property taxes and state aid, which is based in part on enrollment.
Cecilia Huerta, director of the state's Mexican-American Commission, said other Nebraska communities with large numbers of Hispanics are likely to have the same situation.
"People in Lexington and Schuyler do not want their kids being polluted by Latin Americans and Hispanics," Huerta said. "They think they're not going to get the quality of education if they have a diverse classroom."
Many Hispanics are not aware of what is happening, but if they did "they would be up in arms," said state Sen. Ray Aguilar, the Legislature's only Hispanic.
Chris Dvorak, a white parent who has two children who attend a school outside Schuyler, said she sent her children there to avoid overcrowding in town, not to get away from Hispanics. "I would have done the same thing if they were all white kids," Dvorak said.
There are 45 students enrolled at Dvorak's children's school, compared with more than 850 at Schuyler Grade School.
State Sen. Chris Langemeier of Schuyler pointed out that anyone can attend the outlying schools. "It's not an elite group that gets to option," he said.
But Aguilar said Hispanic students do not go to the schools outside of town because in many Hispanic households, both parents work and do not have cars to take their children to class.
Rosa Valerio, a Hispanic mother whose children both attend school in Schuyler, said she never considered sending them to schools outside town because they are too far away.
Some senators are afraid the state will face legal challenges if the Legislature does not stop the trend toward separate white and Hispanic schools.
"It is unconscionable," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Ron Raikes.
BUT, when kids simply want a better education - WE GOT PROBLEMS!
"The situation in Lexington and elsewhere in Nebraska has caught the attention of the state Legislature, which is considering a bill to thwart what some say amounts to legal segregation in the schools."
So, now parents will not have school choice because it's more important to create "diversity" in the classroom?
"People in Lexington and Schuyler do not want their kids being polluted by Latin Americans and Hispanics," Huerta said. "They think they're not going to get the quality of education if they have a diverse classroom."
Oooo, a mind-reader.
What's stopping the hispanic kids from going to these county schools, too?
I have no problem with legal immigrants. Get legal, or get out.
No. I think it's a combination of funding and the idea that chldren are the property of the State.
Nothing. The article sounds like an attempt to equate illegals with Jim Crow.
It really isn't (or shouldn't) be about the ethnicity of the kids. It really is about the kids being low-income. Low-income generally equals a more transient lifestyle, which leads to gaps in education and behavior problems, which leads to needing more services like special ed. or behavior modification....who in their right mind would want their child to be in a class or school with all of that when they can go elsewhere?
Like many of Nebraska's school systems, the Lexington district where Eisenhauer is superintendent has seen an influx of Hispanics, largely because of jobs at the meatpacking plants, and an accompanying exodus of white students to public elementary schools just outside town.
Not to mention the so-called "reporter" ignores the issue that this influx are in the country illegally and that the plants employing them are openly violating our immigration laws without fear of repercussion. To them, the real story is whitey is racist.
The Nebraska legislature seems poised to declare native-born American children as chattel.
It should read Mexicans and Hispanics. Latins are Hispanics and Mexicans are Mexicans.
If by "diversity" you mean "large numbers of kids from single-parent families inadequately prepared for learning," I'm afraid I'd have to opt out as well. I suspect that's the real issue here. And I also suspect you'll find that most of the middle-class minority families are getting out as well.
It really isn't (or shouldn't) be about the ethnicity of the kids
It should if the kids and their parents are in this country "illegally". I believe that if politicians were required to send thier children to public schools we would see many of these issues addressed.
1. Government adopts insane policies (immigration).
2. Folks take simple rational actions to shield themselves from the insane policies.
3. Government adopts more insane, and now coercive policies designed to prevent people from acting in their own interests....rinse and repeat...
How dare those Americans try to do what the illegals criminal Mexican aliens and their racist supporters claim they are doing!! The darn gringos must learn that their primary role is to supply the wealth and resources to improve the situation of the invaders! Not to play the race card here, but folks in the black community have given up employment and any claim to jobs to ensure that illegal Mexicans get work. Why can't the folks in the white community live up to tjeir obligations, as well?
Just for the record, these were not illegal immigrants either. Almost all were natives and some could trace there families in California back to before most of the rest of us could find ours in North America.
Arizonans and Californians can be heard shouting,
"Welcome to the world of reality, Nevadans! You
now know what displacement means."
I feel that for the amount of property taxes that they rape us for ("It's for the schools, you know.") parents should be able to send their kids where they want to. We homeschool, so we get to pay for this nonsense no matter what (that's our choice). I just don't like the divisions it throws up in the communities. I generally don't have any problem with the Mexican people who live here, although if they are not here legally I do. I don't know what the percentages are as to legal vs. illegal, but if someone plays by the rules and is here legally, then great, welcome. Now start learning English. You don't have to give up speaking Spanish, but English is the language of our contry and you need to learn to speak it (just like I would need to learn to speak Spanish if I moved to Mexico).
Poor superintendent Eisenhauer.
Perhaps he would be less "distressed" should he quit and go to work in the meat packing plant.
The comments by the Mexicans are interesting. They can't sent their kids to the other schools because they can't get there?
Sure, I can see that. The Mexicans running away from all those Mexicans in the city schools.
Home school alert!
Shhhh, you're not supposed to guess the obvious.
Er ... uh ... Nebraskans?
I don't see why they need to be taught in Spanish. They're already fluent in Spanish, it's English they're deficient in. I hate being forced to pay for this insanity as well.
Sorry.,.mental flip!
Latin America ... Definition
The countries of the Western Hemisphere south of the United States, especially those speaking Spanish, Portuguese, or French.
Now ... you were saying?
Easily recognizable, as I do it constantly. ;)
I generally try to get along with everyone, but why is the superintendent so upset? It's like when the cities were all crying about white flight in the 60's and 70's. If all cultures are equal, wouldn't they produce just as good a school system without all us white crackers? Why do they NEED us in the city schools? Could it possibly be so they can suck the money out of us like seed ticks while calling us racists?
Why do they always think that when whites flee an area, it is because of racism? Perhaps they want their kids in a safe school. Perhaps the white kids are harassed by Mexican racists who call them gringo.
Well, I'm a teacher who taught in an inner city for 5 years and am now teaching in a school where more and more poor kids are moving in (poor hispanic, black, white). There is a different culture with the poor no matter what the ethnicity.
Cheech & Chong did a musical bit about Mexican-Americans taking Spanish in school: "Mexican-Americans...take Spanish in school and get a 'C'..."
Just where from the article posted do you get the impression that they are illegal aliens?
It is not stated anywhere in the article.
Don't just assume every Mexican in this country is here illegally.
I got that impression from this:
"... has seen an influx of Hispanics, largely because of jobs at the meatpacking plants..."
When PC-speak requires people to speak euphemistically (ie, never use the phrase "illegal alien") then it becomes necessary to second guess what the speaker is actually talking about.
Article alone not basis for impression - also knowledge of this area and meat packing industry, and I (like most of fellow posters here) have no problem with individuals who come to this country seeking opportunity through legal means so play the race card elsewhere.
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=528&u_xid=917&u_sid=783530
Growing pains test Lexington
BY CINDY GONZALEZ AND MIKE REILLY
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERS
RELATED STORIES
Without citing motive for the migration, it seems the pols are the racists here, assuming that the migration is race motivated.
Not to mention trend by reporters to refer to them as "undocumented immigrants" or ignore the fact that they are here illegally at all. Just love the crowd that attempts to equate desire for sane immigration policies with racism.
Reminds me of the time I called on a family in a new home in the country. They moved out of town, they said, because Vietnameese immigrants were barbecuing dogs in their living rooms. C'est la vie.
I used to threaten my dogs by telling them that somewhere there was a restaurant menu with their names on it.
Roasted Yorkie-on-a-stick, anyone? :-)
Immigration Impact - Nebraska
http://www.fairus.org/Research/Research.cfm?ID=1538&c=9
Extended Immigration Data for Nebraska
http://www.fairus.org/Research/Research.cfm?ID=1455&c=9
In this country we supposed to have freedom, does this not include choce
Isn't it wonderful to have people in government who believe that it is their responsibility to thwart the will of the people?
http://www.cis.org/articles/2003/msktestimony410.html
Securing the Homeland Through
Immigration Law Enforcement
Testimony prepared for the U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on the Judiciary
Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims
"Department of Homeland Security Transition:
Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement"
April 10, 2003
Statement of Mark Krikorian
Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies
In response, the INS developed a "kinder, gentler" means of enforcing the law, which fared no better. Rather than conduct raids on specific employers, Operation Vanguard sought to identify illegal workers at all meatpacking plants in Nebraska through audits of their personnel records. The INS found about 4,000 workers, out of about 24,000, who appeared to be illegal, and scheduled interviews to determine their status. Three thousand of these workers turned out to be illegal aliens, and never showed up for their interviews, with the remaining 1,000 able to correct errors in their records.
Local law enforcement officials were very pleased with the program: "It’s an excellent program," said Grand Island Police Chief Kyle Hetrick. "It’s a positive thing. It’s effective." Despite the initial promise of this new enforcement strategy, employers and politicians actively criticized the very idea of enforcing the law: "It was ill-advised for Operation Vanguard to start out in a state with such low employment and an already big problem with a shortage of labor," said a former Nebraska governor who had been hired to lobby for an end to immigration law enforcement. As a result, plans to expand the program to other states and other industries were scrapped and the INS official who developed the program was forced into early retirement
Immigration Quiz
http://www.fairus.org/Research/ResearchList.cfm?c=56
The US Census Bureau suggests that there's about 6% or so of Hispanics in Nebraska. So, I guess there would be quite a few in certain areas.
The US Census Bureau suggests that there's about 6% or so of Hispanics in Nebraska. So, I guess there would be quite a few in certain areas.
Sorry to hear that the good people of Nebraska now have to deal with the California Problem. Coming next: a massisve raid on your state treasury and tax increases.
Awwww.....
Gee, I'd like a law that says people have to use a lawyer to buy a house, to get divorced, to sue other people, get a patent, open a corporation....but unfortunately, California allows mere lay people not admitted to the Bar to choose to do these things for themselves. And without giving a reason either.
[/sarcasm]
The proposal would force the outlying elementary-only schools to merge with larger kindergarten-through-12th-grade districts. That could mean the closing of the smaller schools.
Even if passed, this stupid law won't stop the so-called "segregation" complained of because it is not the result of legally sanctioned Jim Crow laws but parental choice. Parents will turn to private schools, or home-school, or move out of the district. In the worst case, white couples will reconsider having children that are being born and raised simply to be part of some politician's "social experiment," or they'll move out of state.
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