MIGRANT STUDENTS

I've had some family problems. In fact, I buried my mom, my dad, and my daughter in one month. So I haven't been doing anything, but I'm recovering now, I think. I read this article when it came out, but it really seemed insignificant at that time. This is what our opponents do... gloss over and use circular, impaired logic.

Migrant students head to D.C.Comments 1 Recommend 0
June 13, 2008 - 4:52PM
BY ELAINE MARSILIO
Community dissension hasn't derailed a trip by 14 migrant students and three chaperones to attend a leadership program in Washington, D.C., later this month.
Alma Guerrero, ECISD assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said this trip isn't any different from one of the Ector County Independent School District school bands traveling for a concert or program.
She said sending the students to the event will help them gain some necessary skills like public speaking and leadership. Also, they'll have a chance to learn about the democratic process.
Migrant students, which are students who've moved because of a job or a spouse or family member taking a job, plan to attend the Bert Corona Leadership Institute during their six-day trip from June 23-29 in Washington, D.C.
Community member Faye Hall said she doesn't agree with ECISD officials' approval of using taxpayer money (federal grant money) to send the migrant students to attend the institute, which she said was founded by a communist.
"I don't like the whole thing," she said. "We're paying for it, and that's not what the majority of Americans want."
Hall disapproves of the trip so much that she's tried to get the issue on Tuesday's board agenda. An agenda released for the meeting, however, doesn't include a discussion of the trip.
Hall recently researched the institute and wrote a letter to the editor in the Odessa American stating, "Bert Corona died in 2001, but he has left quite a legacy. An admitted communist, he served on the board of the Los Angeles Communist School, helped to organize the Mexican American Political Association (MAPA), formed the Brown Berets and founded Hermandad Mexicana Nacional.
"All of these organizations support the conversion of our form of republican government to that of socialism or communism, the reconquest of the Southwest and, if necessary, the violent overthrow of our government," she wrote.
In a recent phone interview, Hall said she has issues with what the institute stands for as well as paying for non-citizens to have the chance to interact with Congress through this institute, which she said is "using kids to play on Americans' compassion."
"I'm a (Navy) veteran married to a disabled veteran," she said. "That wipes my mind slick."
Guerrero said ECISD migrant students have never attended the institute before and if something inappropriate is presented on the trip then the students will be taken out of the program.
But, she said, ECISD administrators have heard nothing but "positive things about this institute."
"I think it's going to better their understanding of the democratic process," Guerrero said. "Their communication skills are going to improve.
"It's going to hone in on their problem-solving skills," she said.
Guerrero said she answered questions by some community members who had concerns, and it's possible a school board member could travel with the group to Washington, Guerrero said.
But, regardless, she said, the 14 ninth- to 12th-grade ECISD migrant students plan to still go and administrators have discussed the concerns with board members and the Texas Education Agency, which houses the Texas Migrant Interstate Program.
"As far as I know, they're still going on the trip," Guerrero said.

WHAT IS A MIGRANT STUDENT?
>> A migrant student is a child who's a migratory agricultural worker, which includes a migratory dairy worker or migratory fisher, who in the past three years has moved to obtain temporary or seasonal work and moved from one school district to another.
>> A child is also considered a migrant student if their parents or spouse are a migrant worker and moves to be with them.
>> The full definition is stated in Title 1, Part C of the No Child Left Behind Act, according to the Texas Education Agency.
SOURCE: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY

FACT FILE
>> Federal money through the Title 1, Part C of the No Child Left Behind Act pay for the trip to Washington, D.C., trip for ECISD migrant students. The trip costs $24,900 for tuition and registration and $11,056.80 in airfare.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF ALMA GUERRERO, ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT FOR ECISD
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fayehall wrote:
"Alma Guerrero, ECISD assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said this trip isn't any different from one of the Ector County Independent School District school bands traveling for a concert or program."

Interesting comparison. Non-citizen children going to communist-founded school to learn how to and to actually lobby our congressmen for something 80% of Americans have said they don't want. And the Americans pay for it. Same as the band going out of town.
8/28/2008 4:51:20 AM

www.oaoa.com/news/students_18088___article.html/institute_trip.html - 65k - 2008-06-13