More Integration Of Hispanic Pupils Urged

District 112 bilingual education a hindrance, many say

Ethnic tensions resurfaced last week in North Shore School District 112, as more than 200 people packed the Highwood City Hall to urge the district to disperse Spanish-speaking pupils more evenly among its eight elementary schools.

More than two-thirds of the district’s 365 Hispanic pupils attend Oak Terrace School in Highwood. Most of the other Hispanic pupils attend Indian Trails School at the north end of Highland Park.

Some schools–those on the south side of the district in Highland Park–have no more than five Spanish-speakers each. A result, many parents say, is a lower standard of education for everyone.

They contend that Spanish-speaking pupils are hurt by not being forced to learn English by speaking with non-Hispanic peers in and out of the classroom.

“They just don’t get the same education by being all together,” said Estela Ramos, a community leader in Highwood and Highland Park for more than 20 years. Ramos said she has spoken to many Spanish-speaking parents about the issue.

“We speak Spanish at home, so kids will never forget that,” Ramos said, “but the priority in school should be to learn English.”

Meanwhile, several parents have complained that English-speaking pupils at Oak Terrace are slowed by the attention the school devotes to bilingual education.

Still other parents are worried that pupils in other parts of the district do not have the benefit of going to school with children of other backgrounds.

“I really question in the long run how beneficial separating children like this will be,” said Highwood resident Andrea Smith, who had two children at Oak Terrace. “If you look at school as an experience on all levels, this hinders them.”

The district was created in 1992, when three school districts united.

Highwood’s District 111 was in a financial crisis at the time, and the consolidation allowed it to merge with its much wealthier neighbors to the south, Districts 107 and 108.

One rationale for the consolidation was to foster integration, but pupils at opposite ends of the large district have had little contact with one another.

“This is a real glaring problem,” said Highwood Mayor John Sirotti, a lifelong resident of the city. “We have to live together as people. To separate children at such an early age is just not healthy.”

The issue has simmered for years, and it escalated last month when the district said that it intends to redraw attendance boundaries.

District staff has divided residents into 48 neighborhoods and will begin this week to try to decide where each neighborhood’s children will go to school.

Tuesday’s parent forum was one of eight district staff members have organized to get parent suggestions for the remapping.

“We are taking very meticulous notes and will relay everything to the school board,” said Gregory Mullen, the district’s director of administrative services and planning. “At least parents will know that they have been heard.”

Hispanic parents attended Tuesday’s meeting, but few spoke publicly. Ramos attributed their silence to some parents’ inability to understand fully the details of the issue–presented in English and translated into Spanish–and the intimidation of speaking through a translator.

“I don’t think many Spanish-speaking parents quite know what is happening,” Ramos said, “but they did make their presence felt through their appearance.”

Although Highwood parents are pushing for greater integration, others in Highland Park have said they do not want their children going to school with children who do not live in their neighborhood.

Some parents have said that redrawing boundaries or busing pupils would ruin the community feel of their schools.

The proposed remapping comes as the school board is making plans to place a $40 million measure on the April ballot for school renovations. How that $40 million would be used has not been determined, officials said.

By 2001, the district expects to add 300 pupils to its current enrollment of 4,191 in its 11 elementary and middle schools.

Many of the new pupils are expected to attend the district’s northern schools as a result of new housing at Ft. Sheridan, the former Army base that now houses the children of sailors from Great Lakes Naval Training Center, North Chicago, Mullen said.

“It is a tremendous amount of money they are asking us to give for this referendum, and we want some equity,” Smith said.

After having the last of its community forums this week, district staff will begin to draw up formal proposals to present to the school board at its Jan. 21 meeting.



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