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Texas school district turns away students from Mexico

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
(CNN) -- For years, children from Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, have attended schools across the border in Del Rio, Texas, but this week that changed for students who cannot prove residency.

The local school superintendent imposed new regulations to stem what he said is a long-standing problem for the district.

"I have seen van loads of kids with plates from Coahuila State (in Mexico) pulling in front of the school," San Felipe Del Rio School Superintendent Kelt Cooper told CNN. "Everyone knows what is going on. It's real blatant."
 

alice

Well-known member
And here is the rest of the story. It is because these students cannot prove they live in the school district, not because they are not citizens...in fact, some of them are. That said, there has got to be a way Texas can get a handle on this. Schools here are in a catch 22 situation...there needs to be guidelines established and followed to the letter! This is not happening only in border towns.

Cooper, who joined the district 11 months ago, previously was superintendent in the border town of Nogales, Arizona, where he had to deal with similar circumstances. There, he remembered, he once had 32 students with the same home address. When district officials checked, the property was a vacant lot.

In Del Rio, Cooper said he began to notice "there was some slackness in the protocol" dealing with proof of residency.

"Border towns are really unique," Cooper told CNN in a phone interview. "There is a lot of fluidity between the two cities. Having grown up in the border, I know this is very common."

Last week, Cooper received confirmation from authorities at the International Bridge border crossing that some 540 school-age kids were crossing the bridge in the mornings.

Cooper said the situation was "getting out of hand," and on Wednesday he dispatched district staff members to the bridge to talk to the parents accompanying their children from the Mexican side. The staff was able to identify 195 students that could be barred from the district's schools if they failed to provide proof they lived within the district.

Three of the students were Carla Gomez' children. In a phone interview, Gomez told CNN she lives in Del Rio with her sister-in-law, but she travels back and forth to Ciudad Acuna to see her husband, who was deported.

On Wednesday, Gomez was stopped by school district staff and received a letter saying that her children would be dropped from enrollments if she couldn't provide proof of residency.

To prove residency, the district requires parents or guardians to provide an official document such as a utility bill, lease or proof-of-rent payment, none of which Gomez said she can provide since everything is in her sister-in-law's name. She said her only alternative may be homeschooling her children.

Cooper said he knows some of the parents who received letters are upset, especially those with children who are U.S. citizens. But he said the issue is a matter or residency, not citizenship or immigration status.

"Citizenship is a moot point. It really comes down to whether you live here," Cooper said.

"Frequently, they (Mexicans) come with the impression that their kids are U.S. citizens, so they can go to school here," he added.

"I am not U.S. Border Patrol, Customs or INS. If you are a resident here, you get to go to school here, if you don't, you don't. This is not a matter of border enforcement."


A 1982 Texas Supreme Court ruling protects students from being discriminated upon based on immigration status, but Texas law states the student must live in a school district's area to attend a school within that district.

Cooper and his staff are trying to work out a tuition system for students who cannot prove residency. He is in talks with state agencies to calculate an appropriate tuition fee, but the school board would first have to approve the program.

"We are saying if we have room, you can pay tuition. We don't want this to be a burden on taxpayers. Some of the parents we have talked to have expressed interest in paying tuition," he said.

But as Cooper has learned this week, the tuition program has proven unsuccessful in other cities. He has spoken with three superintendents of other border school districts, all of whom have said to him they tried the tuition program but it didn't work.

"I got the impression from them it was not worth the hassle," he said.

But losing non-resident students could wind up costing the district.

Cooper estimated that in a worst-case scenario, the district could lose some $2.7 million in state funding since budgets are based on attendance. There are currently about 10,000 students in the district.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/09/11/texas.border.schools/index.html?iref=hpmostpop
 

badaxemoo

Well-known member
alice said:
And here is the rest of the story. It is because these students cannot prove they live in the school district, not because they are not citizens...in fact, some of them are. That said, there has got to be a way Texas can get a handle on this. Schools here are in a catch 22 situation...there needs to be guidelines established and followed to the letter! This is not happening only in border towns.

Cooper, who joined the district 11 months ago, previously was superintendent in the border town of Nogales, Arizona, where he had to deal with similar circumstances. There, he remembered, he once had 32 students with the same home address. When district officials checked, the property was a vacant lot.

In Del Rio, Cooper said he began to notice "there was some slackness in the protocol" dealing with proof of residency.

"Border towns are really unique," Cooper told CNN in a phone interview. "There is a lot of fluidity between the two cities. Having grown up in the border, I know this is very common."

Last week, Cooper received confirmation from authorities at the International Bridge border crossing that some 540 school-age kids were crossing the bridge in the mornings.

Cooper said the situation was "getting out of hand," and on Wednesday he dispatched district staff members to the bridge to talk to the parents accompanying their children from the Mexican side. The staff was able to identify 195 students that could be barred from the district's schools if they failed to provide proof they lived within the district.

Three of the students were Carla Gomez' children. In a phone interview, Gomez told CNN she lives in Del Rio with her sister-in-law, but she travels back and forth to Ciudad Acuna to see her husband, who was deported.

On Wednesday, Gomez was stopped by school district staff and received a letter saying that her children would be dropped from enrollments if she couldn't provide proof of residency.

To prove residency, the district requires parents or guardians to provide an official document such as a utility bill, lease or proof-of-rent payment, none of which Gomez said she can provide since everything is in her sister-in-law's name. She said her only alternative may be homeschooling her children.

Cooper said he knows some of the parents who received letters are upset, especially those with children who are U.S. citizens. But he said the issue is a matter or residency, not citizenship or immigration status.

"Citizenship is a moot point. It really comes down to whether you live here," Cooper said.

"Frequently, they (Mexicans) come with the impression that their kids are U.S. citizens, so they can go to school here," he added.

"I am not U.S. Border Patrol, Customs or INS. If you are a resident here, you get to go to school here, if you don't, you don't. This is not a matter of border enforcement."


A 1982 Texas Supreme Court ruling protects students from being discriminated upon based on immigration status, but Texas law states the student must live in a school district's area to attend a school within that district.

Cooper and his staff are trying to work out a tuition system for students who cannot prove residency. He is in talks with state agencies to calculate an appropriate tuition fee, but the school board would first have to approve the program.

"We are saying if we have room, you can pay tuition. We don't want this to be a burden on taxpayers. Some of the parents we have talked to have expressed interest in paying tuition," he said.

But as Cooper has learned this week, the tuition program has proven unsuccessful in other cities. He has spoken with three superintendents of other border school districts, all of whom have said to him they tried the tuition program but it didn't work.

"I got the impression from them it was not worth the hassle," he said.

But losing non-resident students could wind up costing the district.

Cooper estimated that in a worst-case scenario, the district could lose some $2.7 million in state funding since budgets are based on attendance. There are currently about 10,000 students in the district.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/09/11/texas.border.schools/index.html?iref=hpmostpop
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Thanks, Alice.
 

TexasBred

Well-known member
alice said:
And here is the rest of the story. It is because these students cannot prove they live in the school district, not because they are not citizens...in fact, some of them are. That said, there has got to be a way Texas can get a handle on this. Schools here are in a catch 22 situation...there needs to be guidelines established and followed to the letter! This is not happening only in border towns.

Cooper, who joined the district 11 months ago, previously was superintendent in the border town of Nogales, Arizona, where he had to deal with similar circumstances. There, he remembered, he once had 32 students with the same home address. When district officials checked, the property was a vacant lot.

In Del Rio, Cooper said he began to notice "there was some slackness in the protocol" dealing with proof of residency.

"Border towns are really unique," Cooper told CNN in a phone interview. "There is a lot of fluidity between the two cities. Having grown up in the border, I know this is very common."

Last week, Cooper received confirmation from authorities at the International Bridge border crossing that some 540 school-age kids were crossing the bridge in the mornings.

Cooper said the situation was "getting out of hand," and on Wednesday he dispatched district staff members to the bridge to talk to the parents accompanying their children from the Mexican side. The staff was able to identify 195 students that could be barred from the district's schools if they failed to provide proof they lived within the district.

Three of the students were Carla Gomez' children. In a phone interview, Gomez told CNN she lives in Del Rio with her sister-in-law, but she travels back and forth to Ciudad Acuna to see her husband, who was deported.

On Wednesday, Gomez was stopped by school district staff and received a letter saying that her children would be dropped from enrollments if she couldn't provide proof of residency.

To prove residency, the district requires parents or guardians to provide an official document such as a utility bill, lease or proof-of-rent payment, none of which Gomez said she can provide since everything is in her sister-in-law's name. She said her only alternative may be homeschooling her children.

Cooper said he knows some of the parents who received letters are upset, especially those with children who are U.S. citizens. But he said the issue is a matter or residency, not citizenship or immigration status.

"Citizenship is a moot point. It really comes down to whether you live here," Cooper said.

"Frequently, they (Mexicans) come with the impression that their kids are U.S. citizens, so they can go to school here," he added.

"I am not U.S. Border Patrol, Customs or INS. If you are a resident here, you get to go to school here, if you don't, you don't. This is not a matter of border enforcement."


A 1982 Texas Supreme Court ruling protects students from being discriminated upon based on immigration status, but Texas law states the student must live in a school district's area to attend a school within that district.

Cooper and his staff are trying to work out a tuition system for students who cannot prove residency. He is in talks with state agencies to calculate an appropriate tuition fee, but the school board would first have to approve the program.

"We are saying if we have room, you can pay tuition. We don't want this to be a burden on taxpayers. Some of the parents we have talked to have expressed interest in paying tuition," he said.

But as Cooper has learned this week, the tuition program has proven unsuccessful in other cities. He has spoken with three superintendents of other border school districts, all of whom have said to him they tried the tuition program but it didn't work.

"I got the impression from them it was not worth the hassle," he said.

But losing non-resident students could wind up costing the district.

Cooper estimated that in a worst-case scenario, the district could lose some $2.7 million in state funding since budgets are based on attendance. There are currently about 10,000 students in the district.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/09/11/texas.border.schools/index.html?iref=hpmostpop

Alice you mean they drive van loads of mexican kids to school long distances from the border?????? At least the illegals in my area are residents, albeit illegal and students attending a school in a district they do not live in pay for the transfer.
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
"Citizenship is a moot point. It really comes down to whether you live here," Cooper said.

"Frequently, they (Mexicans) come with the impression that their kids are U.S. citizens, so they can go to school here," he added.

"I am not U.S. Border Patrol, Customs or INS. If you are a resident here, you get to go to school here, if you don't, you don't. This is not a matter of border enforcement."


And he's correct, in a sense. And wrong in another.

If your taxes are not going into the same pot as your services are coming out of, then get out.

It shouldn't matter if it's a school district or state or Country.

and it should not be turned around to be an issue skin color, original country of origin. Why is that always the "rest of the story"?

If you are a legitimate citizen, then that gives you the rights afforded by being a citizen.

too many people consider border patrol as a "racist" act, it's not. and they seem to be the people that bring race or the other issues into discussion

and I think that was the distinction he was making, and that I agree with.

Alice, I'm sorry you thought there was something I was keeping from you, with the bottom part of the article.

I wasn't even looking at it from a "country of origin" aspect.

only from a "payment for services rendered" point of view.
 

TexasBred

Well-known member
reader (the Second) said:
Around here people enroll their kids in schools in other school districts by using the addresses of a family member or friend.

Someone asked me if they could use my address for their child years ago, I was amazed at the nerve of them wanting to get a free education from my local government without paying taxes and to put me in an illegal and immoral situation. I instantly wrote that person off as lacking in ethics and not worth knowing. But Alice is right I remember this being a tactic that people use in non-border towns.


Illegals???????
 

Yanuck

Well-known member
We have to prove residency in order for our kids to go to school in our district. We have a of of people who work here but live 30-60 miles away and commute here to work everyday and would bring the kids to go to school here. Our school district is very highly ranked in the State for money/student spent, and we do have really good schools and teachers.
 
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