Some Patchogue-Medford students see racial tension
There’s a hallway inside Patchogue-Medford High School where only Latino students hang out. That’s not because it’s considered their turf, but because English-as-a-second-language classes (ESL Classes) are concentrated there, the district’s superintendent said.
“Some people have said there’s a Spanish hallway,” said Superintendent Michael Mostow. “It’s that kind of hysteria that’s foolish. You wouldn’t have reason to walk there if you don’t have an ESL class.”
Mostow finds himself defending the high school’s racial dynamics after six seniors and a junior were charged in a gang attack Nov. 8 that left a 37-year-old emigrant from Ecuador stabbed to death. Suffolk prosecutors have said the teens were bent on harming a Hispanic.
Kimberly Wilder on Fri, 21st Nov 2008 10:37 pm
Think about this phrase from Sup. Mostow:
“You wouldn’t have reason to walk there if you don’t have an ESL class.”
Well, if you are the school administration, or the district administration, and there is a feeling of isolation in a hallway, you can fix it. If there is a hallway that starts to seem segregated, then the next semester, or the next year, make sure you mix up where the ESL classrooms are.
Half of leadership and planning involves setting up the environment and atmosphere. It matters where classrooms are, and if the ESL classrooms are all lumped together. Furthermore, if anyone is talking about one area of your school seeming isolated or unfriendly, then fix it - add a window, play music in the hallway, add extra hall monitors, apply feng shui.
Sup. Mostow is not truly understanding the problems at his schools. Nor is he understanding his responsibility and his power to fix them.
At my web-site, I have old quotes from Sup. Michael Mostow that reveal his true attitudes towards Hispanic students and immigrant students. Sup. Mostow is one of those people with white privilege who just doesn’t notice how “other” he treats Hispanics. Last year, he was in a newspaper article discussing the cost of educating illegal immigrants, where he was saying that that was an unfair burden on his school. But, also, in the article, he automatically blames the need for ESL classes on the presence of illegal immigrants. That is three leaps of logic towards xenophobia: Not all illegal immigrants need ESL. Some people who do need ESL are legal immigrants, or even American citizens whose household speaks Spanish.
Sup. Mostow and other people ringing their hands and worrying about their own salaries and the school budget can’t even tell the difference between a Spanish-speaking student and an undocumented student. Nor, do they get that it is not their business to make any such distinctions. This is America. All children are educated. We do not leave some children to wander the streets uneducated, even if they or their parents happen to be undocumented.
admin on Sat, 22nd Nov 2008 9:50 am
Kimberly Wilder notes:
“Not all illegal immigrants need ESL. Some people who do need ESL are legal immigrants, or even American citizens whose household speaks Spanish.”
How often do ESL teachers have to remind the educational community of this?