RIGHTWINGSPARKLE

What should we do about this ? It seems the public schools in Lincoln Nebraska allow kids to go to any public school in the area, not just in their own district.

"Like many of Nebraska's school systems, the Lexington district where Dick Eisenhauer is superintendent has seen an influx of Hispanics, largely because of jobs at the meatpacking plants, and an accompanying exodus of white students to public elementary schools just outside town."

"As a result, in Lexington, the in-town schools, with an enrollment of 2,500, have 804 students learning English as a second language, and 1,172 who are getting a free or reduced-price lunch. The six outlying elementary schools have about 130 students - none of them English learners, none of them living in poverty, according to the state Education Department."

Cecilia Huerta, director of the state's Mexican-American Commission says "People in Lexington and Schuyler do not want their kids being polluted by Latin Americans and Hispanics," Huerta said. "They think they're not going to get the quality of education if they have a diverse classroom."

Not so says..." Chris Dvorak, a white parent who has two children who attend a school outside Schuyler, said she sent her children there to avoid overcrowding in town, not to get away from Hispanics. "I would have done the same thing if they were all white kids," Dvorak said.
There are 45 students enrolled at Dvorak's children's school, compared with more than 850 at Schuyler Grade School.

State Sen. Chris Langemeier of Schuyler pointed out that anyone can attend the outlying schools. "It's not an elite group that gets to option," he said."

"But Aguilar said Hispanic students do not go to the schools outside of town because in many Hispanic households, both parents work and do not have cars to take their children to class."

Now the state Legislature is considering a bill to thwart what some say amounts to legal segregation in the schools. Thereby closing the small outlying schools.

So say your a parent and you have an option of sending your kid to an overcrowded school of 2,500 students or a school with 130 students. Of course any parent with the ability to drive their kids to the outlying smaller schools is going to do it. I really don't think the "polluted" statement by Heurta is fair at all. And like one parent pointed out, Mexicans are welcomed there as well. It isn't diversity the white parents are afraid of, it is too many freaking students of any color. Overcrowding is without a doubt, a major cause of poor education in any school. But now the legislature is considering a bill to close down the outlying smaller schools and force the kids into the crowded public schools near their homes.

What do you think will happen? Private schools will flourish and you will have the exact same situation. Government trying to force parent's hands is just not going to work.

What would you do if you were the Superintendent?