Just when the school board and its critics appeared to have struck a compromise on some key issues, the groups found new ground to battle on.
A tenuous truce between the school board and parent activists Teach Our Children fell apart at Monday’s board meeting when the debate turned to Spanish translation in schools.
The two parties have been at loggerheads since the spring over the board’s policy on issues such as bullying, provision of homework to suspended kids, and a clear code of conduct. (Click here, here and here for past stories.)
For a change, Monday’s meeting began as a bit of a love fest.
Truman School parent and TOC board member Angela Watley rose to thank Superintendent Reginald Mayo for his speedy work on the group’s key issues. Based on recent letters between the parties, Mayo had made several commitments to the group. He agreed to have a revised code of conduct in place by December and a pilot program for the provision of homework to suspended students for K‑8 schools by November 15; and a for suspended high school students by January.
(Click here to read TOC’s letter, and click here for Mayo’s reply.)
The two sides have been meeting monthly since the summer, but TOC’s sense of urgency clashes with the Board’s sense that it needs to be deliberative. Both sides accuse each other of bad faith and of cutting off dialogue.
However, TOC organizer Gwendolyn Forest, in an email prior to the meeting, had praised Mayo’s letter as a good compromise with “concrete results that we had been looking for and reasonable timelines.”
Love Lost
So far so good. But the love-fest turned sour on the topic of translation.
Bishop Woods parent Alberto Nieves asked, through translator Nilda Aponte (pictured at the top of this story), for a timeline for the board to commit to a wide range of new Spanish translation services in the schools. The group is asking for translators to be available in every school, for mandatory translators at all important meetings, and for the school system’s web page have an optional Spanish translation. (Click here to read about when TOC presented its demands to BOE member Dr. Carlos Torre.)
Mayo declined. He more than declined.
“I will make no such deadline,” Mayo said, “and, frankly, I think we do very well here. There are many other languages, you know, and the basic things, and a lot more, we do in Spanish.”
To demonstrate, Laida Pacini (pictured), the NHPS’s chief of staff, brought out orientation materials in Spanish.
From there, the meeting became tempestuous.
“Look, “said Mayo, “Why don’t you offer to work with us at schools with high Latino populations to organize translation service if it’s not there, which I think it is if you just ask the principal. But, no. You’d rather come and make demands and point fingers. Your aim is to attract media, not work cooperatively to solve problems. It comes across as ambush, as bullying.”
“No,” said Aponte, “we represent hundreds of people who, like Alberto, feel disrespected because of this.”
“If they go through the principal, the assistant principal, the chain of command and ask for what they need, it can be solved. Not here, not making demands of us. Instead you grandstand here.”
Defenders Emerge
And so it went. What was remarkable about the meeting was that for every parent representing TOC with words of complaint, another parent rose to praise the board.
Hazel Pappas said in her years of experience at NHPS orientations, where there were lots of Latino parents, such as at Fair Haven Middle School, Spanish translations were always available. “Let’s work together, black, white, Latino, please.”
Another parent and family educator, Jene Flores said she translated everything anybody asked for at her school, Vincent Mauro. “But don’t use the media. It’s hurting our children.”
There were also substantial numbers of principals and other NHPS staff in the audience, who applauded at key points, including when Mayo termed TOC’s style “bullying.”
Had the board asked for backup to respond to TOC’s charges? Officials said no.
Ima Canelli, the director of instruction, said that some of the principals and school-defending parents might be there, in some measure, “because word is getting out and people are tired of TOC’s tactics.”
“Look, there are a lot of constituencies, and if they don’t speak up, others will speak for them, so here they come,” said BOE chair Dr. Brian Perkins. He accused TOC leaders of disseminating mis-information, giving people scripts and urging them to appear in public and before the media at the meetings instead of helping them, one-on-one, to solve their issues at their individual schools.
“They incite them to come before the microphone,” Perkins said, “and that’s very inappropriate and helps no one.”
“No, no,” said a polite but clear-spoken TOC intern Kerry Ellington. “There’s lots of miscommunication here. Yes, we leaflet the schools and urge people to come here to the meeting, but we never pressure anyone to speak who doesn’t want to.”
What did Nilda Aponte think of the suggestions that TOC should provide the translation services they demand?
“No, she said, “that’s not for us.” Alberto Nieves said he was very disappointed, too.
What is so hard for these people to understand. Why dont they learn ENGLISH. Not for nothing this is America. Go back to your own country if you want to speak spanish. What a drain on resources.