Posted on 06/29/2003 1:24:35 PM PDT by FourPeas
Liaison pick could result in litigation Sunday, June 29, 2003 By Kym Reinstadler
FENNVILLE -- An attorney with Farmworker Legal Services said she intends to meet with her clients again Wednesday to discuss whether they want to pursue legal action against Fennville Public Schools for placing a person in charge of the migrant and bilingual department who is neither bicultural nor bilingual. Rebecca Westphal and six parents representing the Hispanic community met for two hours Tuesday night with Superintendent Mark Dobias, Board of Education President Tony Lungaro, four bilingual school employees and Alice Huyser, the district's pick to replace migrant and bilingual liaison Emily Aleman, who took another job in May. "I cannot speak for everybody, but I can say I am not satisfied with the schools' response," Westphal said. "They listened to our concerns, but I'm not convinced they really heard them." Lungaro said he knows the Hispanic community is disappointed, but agrees with Dobias's argument that Huyser should get a year in the job before everybody decides she cannot do it. Huyser, a longtime district employee, served this year as Fennville's curriculum director, one of many positions eliminated in next year's cash-strapped budget. Lungaro said Huyser is no newcomer to Fennville's migrant and bilingual program, having served as a "back-up administrator" to Aleman and previous director John Lancaster for many years. Four of Fennville's 18 employees who speak Spanish voluntarily attended the meeting to assure parents who don't speak English that there are people at school who are willing and able to help them get their questions answered. "This really isn't the same," Westphal said. "When Hispanic parents have a sensitive issue, should they be explaining that to a school secretary or an instructional aid? There are many sensitive things that should be handled by a bilingual director." District officials have sidestepped an issue that lies at the core of this matter, which is not engaging the Hispanic community in school issues or even effectively communicating them, Westphal said. Dobias promoted Huyser to the liaison position without posting the position to the public. Westphal said maintaining a strong communication link to the Hispanic community should be important to the district because 35 percent to 40 percent of Fennville's enrollment is Latino. Lungaro said Dobias promised to set up a meeting before school starts so Hispanic parents can meet all the district's bilingual employees, who "will be outreach links between parents and administrators." "We really want the contact and communication to be there," Lungaro said. "But as a declining enrollment district that has had to lay off a lot of teachers and aids, we see this move as a way to keep a very good employee who we really believe can be effective in this position."
The Grand Rapids Press
Oh, please.
LOL
Wouldn't the non-Spanish speaker be considered an affirmative action selection?
This is the kind of nonsense you get when the America-hating, ultra-left wingers forced us from the concept of assimilation that had served well for 200 years to the concept of diversity.
--Boris
Perhaps you haven't heard, diversity only applies for those of non-western European descent. Although the article doesn't say, Huyser is (probably) a dutch name. Of course, the Huysers who immigrated to the USA learned English, but that doesn't matter. (And, I'm terribly culturally insensitive for even mentioning it.)
Since the appropriate agency refused to supply an appropriate bicultural, bilingual liaison, they probably refused to listen. The law suit for that is still pending.
You may well not agree, but that's just your unsubstantiated and insupportable opinion.
Some of my more alien friends and associates have asserted that before they emigrated to the US they couldn't tell the difference between Americans and Mexicans in the movies or news stories.
Some of my more alien friends and associates have asserted that before they emigrated to the US they couldn't tell the difference between Americans and Mexicans in the movies or news stories.
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