Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

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Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

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Latino parents group pushes for improvements in District 202

The District 202 Board of Education hopes its 34 suggestions to improve schooling for Latino students will appease a parents organization, but the spokeswoman for the parents said the board’s efforts fall short.

The board heard the recommendations, prepared by a committee, at its meeting Monday. The proposals aim to improve the bilingual program at Evanston Township High School and help Spanish-speaking parents communicate with the school.

Margaret Lurie, vice president of the board, said she hopes the action will help mend the board’s rift with the Latino Parents Union, which represents more than 60 ETHS families.

“I think (the recommendations) are steps in the right direction,” Lurie said.

Soledad Renteria, spokeswoman for the LPU, said the parents are not satisfied.

“I feel like throwing up because every time we go to a meeting nothing happens,” Renteria said. “Two years of doing that and nothing happens.”

Recommendations presented to the board include providing bilingual report cards and maintaining more communication with Spanish-speaking parents. Lurie said the board probably will approve most of the proposals because they would not cost anything to implement.

The committee did incorporate some ideas from the LPU, such as translators at school meetings and events. Lurie said that issue would take longer to decide, since it would cost money. The board will consider the costlier measures at future meetings, she said.

One of the suggestions rejected was hiring a Latino advocate, who would work for the district on Latino issues.

“They don’t think it’s necessary,” Renteria said. “Everything we ask for, they say we don’t need it. Our families need it.”

Renteria said the board is ignoring the issue of how ETHS and its teachers treat Latinos. She pulled her 15-year-old son out of two classes because he was “mistreated by teachers,” she said.

“(Teachers) tell our children that as soon as they turn 16 they’re going to go to night school,” Renteria said, referring to the evening program at ETHS for students who are behind. “(The board) keeps saying that shouldn’t be happening, and we say, ‘Yes, it shouldn’t.’ But it is.”

Renteria said the absence of a translator at Monday’s meeting shows the board’s apathy toward ETHS’s Latino population, which makes up 7.4 percent of the school’s 3,120 students.

Board member Elizabeth Tisdahl responded to Renteria’s anger: “I think it’s understandable. When your child is in school, you want things to be done as soon as possible.”

The board is not dragging its feet, Tisdahl said. “From our perspective, I think we are definitely hearing her,” she said. “I don’t blame her for being frustrated, but I think we are moving.”

The board will discuss the matter again, along with other minority achievement issues, at its May 14 meeting, which will be held at 7:30 p.m. at ETHS, 1600 Dodge Ave.

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Latino parents group pushes for improvements in District 202