This is from an AP story so the reporter is looking to balance her piece with some nice sounding quotes from beleaguered educators, but it is nonetheless informative.
According to AP almost all US states are experiencing the problem of trying to educate teenagers many of whom are illiterate in their own languages (some are tribal languages). AP features Delaware.
And, this couldn’t be happening to a more deserving state!
Senator Joe Biden was one of the chief sponsors of the Refugee Act of 1980 which was pushed through Congress by Senator Ted Kennedy and signed into law by Jimmy Carter. Yet, surprise! Delaware only takes a few refugees every year—you can count the number on two hands most years!
The ‘Unaccompanied alien children’ are under the legal protection of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (although they are not refugees).
From the Associated Press:
FRANKFORD, Del. (AP) — American schools are scrambling to provide services to the large number of children and teenagers who crossed the border alone in recent months.
Unaccompanied minors who made up the summer spike at the border have moved to communities of all sizes, in nearly every state, Federal data indicates, to live with a relative and await immigration decisions. The Supreme Court has ruled that schools have an obligation to educate all students regardless of their immigration status, so schools have become a safe haven for many of the tens of thousands of these young people mostly from central America living in limbo.
Delaware’s rural Sussex County has long attracted immigrants, partly because of work in chicken factories, and soybean and corn fields. The district’s population is more than one-quarter Hispanic, and for years has offered an early learning program for non-English speakers.
Still, officials were caught off guard by about 70 new students mostly from Guatemala – part of the wave crossing the border – enrolling last year, mostly at Sussex Central High School. The Indian River School District over the summer break quickly put together special classes for those needing extra English help.
[….]
The students are eager but face barriers. Some can barely read or write in their native language.
The district’s goal is to get them assimilated – and eventually into a regular high school. There, they can earn a diploma, even if that means participating in adult education programs and going to school until they are 21. [At the expense of US and local taxpayers!—ed]
The federal government (that would be good ol’ Joe) just dropped them on us!
Donald Hattier, a school board member, said advance warning would have helped with planning. The federal government, he said, “just dropped this on us.” He wonders what’s next.
“The kids are still coming across the border. This problem has not been solved,” Hattier said.
There is more, read it all.
All of our posts on ‘Unaccompanied minors’ can be found by clicking here.