A Battle Over Who Speaks for Latinos in Vista Schools

In most districts, the district-wide DELAC committe (District English Learners Advisory Committee) stays under the firm control of the district office. In one school in another district, however, there was a big battle to keep ELAC parents out of the PTA board. The principal, Ollie Matos, was viciously attacked for allowing ELAC parents to attempt to join the PTA board. See news articles regarding Castle Park Elementary in Chula Vista Elementary School District (CVESD). Mr. Preciado certainly is right not to blame just one of the two major culprits in school problems; he correctly blames BOTH the district and the teachers union. The district and the teachers union oppose each other in many things, but they work together to keep parents out of the decision-making process.

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A Battle Over Who Speaks for Latinos in Vista Schools
May 31, 2010
Voice of San Diego
By EMILY ALPERT

Preciado points out that Hispanic dropout rates are alarming. Scores on an English learners test have bobbled. He lays blame with the teachers union, particularly after it fought off a reading program championed by the superintendent...

Before Eduardo Preciado took over, it was a placid committee where parents gave their input on programs for English learners in Vista schools.

Now the group is embroiled in Vista's struggle to find a voice for a Latino community that has grown in numbers but not in political posts over the last decade.

Preciado has changed the committee on English learners into a platform for a small but passionate group of Latino parents who say it's their only place to speak out on all kinds of issues. Though Latino children are now much more common than white students in Vista schools, the school board is largely white and other Latino groups are scarce. One fan calls his group "the voice of the Latino people."

But not everyone wants him to be that voice. His group has split Latino parents -- and some want the outspoken and impassioned Preciado out. Some take issue with his injection of politics into the committee. Others call him too aggressive and confrontational.

There is fierce disagreement over whether the English learners committee should even play the role Preciado has pushed it to. Such committees are supposed to advise their districts on programs for English learners. Preciado has pushed the group to voice its opinions and seek change on much broader, more controversial debates.

He rails against the teachers union and the school board. He argues that the school district has failed Latino kids, pointing to the sobering dropout rates for Latino teens and decrying cuts to busing and programs...

Comment:

Points that need clarity: (1). The DOJ investigation into the Voting Rights was flawed. Congressman Darrel Issa sat on the DOJ'S Committee. The city of Vista formed a Committee to address the issue and Frank Lopez was the Chair, John Herrera the Vice Chair and other city employees or city Committee members. The city of Vista and SD DA Bonnie Dumanis both knew that dozens of Hispanics complained that Frank Lopez was writing dozens of fraudulent checks in the amounts to thousands of dollars. Yet promised Lopez a seat on the Vista City Council which he now holds. Along with an investigation by the DA and other regulatory agencies into the bad checks felony. The California Voting Rights is completely separate and distinct from the DOJ Voting Rights one is state and the other is federal. Known as the California Voting Rights Act (“CVRA”). (Elections Code §§ 14025, et seq.) The California Voting Rights Act bans at-large voting if there is evidence that it “impairs the ability” of a minority group “to elect candidates of its choice or its ability to influence the outcome of an election.” The CVRA prohibits at-large elections in areas where racial polarization “dilutes” the rights of members of a protected minority class. (Elections Code §§ 14027, 14028; In Madera County Superior Court Judge James E. Oakley concluded that at-large elections for three school board seats put Latino candidates at a disadvantage and should be replaced by elections in which the board is divided into districts. Rey v. Madera Unified School District, Madera County Superior Court Case No. MCV043467.) John Herrera Chair of the Vista DOJ investigation and member of the Encuentros committee is married to Carol Herrera, former VUSD President and now Vice President of VUSD Board. Herrera brought Encuentros to VUSD and carried the motion to vote for Encuentros while her husband sat on the Encuetros Board of Directors. Council Member Steve Gronke running for SD Board of Supervisor to unseat Bill Horn is married to Jan O"Reilly President of the controversial Vista Teachers Association. Gronke also runs a VUSD homeschool. Gabriel Hoosmond has been sitting in VUSD committees for over THREE the VUSD. VUSD bylaws only allow two years. Hoosmond is a public employee and part of the public entrenchment as well working for Del Rio Elementary School. So who truly are the bullies here the people behind the entrenchment the ones with absolute power? The public employees who want to keep Hispanics illiterate picking strawberries, day labors, cleaning houses, janitors, and doing all the work white people don't want to do? Or the people who struggle to feed their kids, come home underpaid and overworked from the remedial jobs? Knowing that under this system the future of their children will be a continued cycle of poverty. Are those who fight to have a voice and a future for their children the bullies?

Edited By: scottlewis on 06/01/2010