Denying dropouts a second chance

Denying dropouts a second chance

 Editor:

Albert Einstein once said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. This sounds oddly familiar in the world of education policy. Throw more money at it and expect different results.

The public school establishment clings to the notion that schools can only get better if they get more money. Yet per-student spending in Texas has almost doubled in the past 10 years - growing from $5,282 per student in 1995-1996 to $9,629 in 2005-2006 - with little to show for it in student achievement on top of the thousands of students dropping out of school entirely.

In fact, more than 131,000 Texas students did not graduate with their class in 2006. This statistic is even more appalling considering the fact that African-American and Hispanic students are much more likely to drop out. Broken down by ethnicity, 57.7 percent of African-American students, 54.6 percent of Hispanic students and 75.9 percent of white students graduated with their class in 2006.

A recent proposal from the Texas Education Agency to provide grants for dropout recovery pilot programs has drawn fire from the public school lobby. Under TEA's proposal, the grants would provide funds to a variety of educational settings including public schools, charter schools, universities and some private schools, if they do one thing: get dropouts, or those at risk of dropping out, back into school to work on their diploma. This arrangement would not divert funds from public schools, but establishes a bounty for bringing kids back to complete their education.

The fundamental question, then, is should the state put a priority on getting dropouts back into school by paying any educational institution that can convince the student to return?

For the public school establishment it seems the answer is a resounding "no!" These education groups show their true colors as they wield political power to protect their self-interests rather than meet the needs of students that public schools have failed to reach.

Most disappointingly, many in the public school lobby seem satisfied if they lose funding due to a student dropping out of school, but object to allowing those funds to follow a student to their classroom setting that rescues them from dropping out.

As Texas struggles with a dropout crisis, policymakers should also explore new solutions to catch those students who continue to fall through the cracks. Dropouts desperately need a second chance at an education and should be given a variety of options - be it in a public, charter, virtual or private school - that meets their individual needs.

The public should demand that the state do something to address the dropout crisis and reject those who defend and protect the status quo that has so obviously failed to meet this need. Instead of dismissing dropouts as impossible to serve, we hope dropouts will be given the opportunity for this second chance through a variety of innovative approaches, and we hope public schools step up to the plate along with other educational settings as they compete to bring these students back to school.

If experience has taught us anything, it is that doing the same thing just isn't good enough.

Brooke Dollens Terry

Education policy analyst Texas Public Policy Foundation

Austin

Via the Internet

 How can it be? It's a puzzle to me

 Editor:

In reading the coverage of the board of directors of the Brownsville Navigation District debating whether or not to allow a major company to do business and bring jobs to the Port of Brownsville, my thoughts turned back to the man whose vision made the canal possible.

Fritz Hofmokel, the man who developed the BND envisioned the district to be the largest cotton-exporting port in the world, the shrimp capital of the United States - if not the world - a major point of importation of bananas, a home to myriad stevedore concerns, and a home to other major shipping industries.

In his vision, Hofmokel envisioned the port to become the largest and the most economically viable engine of development in the region. This, coupled with the area's superior productive work force, provided a dynamic force that drove the economy forward and raised wages and profits across the board.

Consequently, the port was the entryway for cargo from all over the world and Brownsville came to be known - appropriately - as the "Crossroads of the Hemisphere."

After that auspicious beginning, the port was booming, not only economically but also culturally, providing our residents with great opportunities and hopes for a higher education and quality of life. Those were good times, with local residents seeing a chance for their children to attain a higher level of education and a hope for a higher standard of living for everyone.

Had this pattern been followed and Hofmokel's vision been realized, this area should have been in the top levels of economic strength, educational attainment, and a well-set pattern of success that would have established Brownsville as a major metropolis and a place where a working person could aspire to a decent to top-level middle- and above-average income and lifestyle.

But neither Hofmokel, nor for that matter anyone else, suspected that forces would gather to bring down this vision of hope and success. Those forces conspired (I said it: a conspiracy) with greedy economic predators who feared an educated population, and manipulated the political process so that righteous people who wanted a fair distribution of the wealth and power were kept from attaining decision-making positions at the port.

Even Hofmokel - a German citizen - was forced into exile to Cuba during World War II, partly as a result of machinations by those who were affronted by his dedication to better the BND, and not the political powers of kingmakers in South Texas. Rather than have himself placed in a concentration camp as German foreign nationals were, he chose to remain alive in Cuba and continue his work,

After the war, Hofmokel returned to his dream, to make the Port of Brownsville a major economic force in the region. To this end, he bought the land from the Rio Grande to the canal.

It was he who expanded the potential of the BND and who introduced the concept of a still invisible truck and rail bridge to Mexico at the district. There is absolutely no doubt that Hofmokel would have succeeded at this venture had he lived long enough. If he had, Brownsville and the whole South Texas region would be at the level of economic prominence that this community deserves.

In the context of Hofmokel's great historical mission, it's a puzzle to me that our port commissioners are resisting the renaissance of his mission by keeping out commerce instead of welcoming the growth that this German immigrant envisioned when he turned over the first spadeful of dirt at the port.

Neto Lopez

Brownsville

 ‘Spanking judge' deserves praise

 Editor:

I have read intently all the articles regarding Justice of the Peace Gustavo Garza's courtroom proceedings and had to write in to show my support for him. If you read the comments on your Web site, you would see that the great majority agree with me.

I fully commend Judge Garza for trying to instill some sort of discipline on these truant and disorderly children, which is what the parents have obviously failed to do. The articles indicate that the spankings are an option and are not the norm unless a parent chooses the spanking to avoid paying the fine that his or her child brought on him or her!

The bigger picture is being missed here: these children are not in court because they are honor students! They lack discipline and respect for education and adults.

I assure you that I would not wait until my child ends up in court to take care of the problem, if he was being truant or disrespectful! The problem would be nipped in the bud immediately and I would not need a judge to tell me to discipline my child!

I hope the judge who presides over this lawsuit sees it for the flagrant abuse that it is and throws it out of his courtroom.

Keep up the good work, Judge Garza!

Norma Jean Cisneros

Brownsville

Via the Internet

 DHS should rethink plans to build border wall during hurricane season

 Editor:

In addition to a multitude of problems that the proposed border wall is certain to cause in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, the Department of Homeland Security has "upped the ante" by a factor of 10 with its announcement that construction of the wall in Hidalgo County will begin on July 25.

Surely these people are aware of the fact that the Lower Rio Grande Valley is geographically located within a major hurricane zone, and that July 25 is in the dead middle of our annual hurricane season, which extends from early June to mid-October.

Hurricanes represent the largest and most destructive storms on earth; once they develop, they tend to move rapidly along highly unpredictable pathways. For example, the notorious storm that caused unprecedented damage along our Gulf Coast three years ago, Hurricane Katrina, originated as a tropical depression near the Bahamas on Aug. 23, 2005, intensified into a Category 1 hurricane (sustained winds of 74 mph or greater) two days later, and made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane (sustained winds of 140-150 mph) near Grande Isle, La. on Aug. 29 - just six days from its birth in the tropical Atlantic to its disastrous landfall, which essentially destroyed the city of New Orleans. Although wind damage caused by Hurricane Katrina was extensive in many areas along the Gulf Coast, it is important to note that New Orleans itself was not destroyed by hurricane-force winds - it was destroyed by massive flooding triggered by the failure of its flood-control levee system.

The flood-control levee system in the Rio Grande Valley is our primary defense against floods of the magnitude that caused so much devastation and misery in areas affected by Katrina. It is designed to divert floodwaters safely away from our cities and other populated areas and into the Laguna Madre and Gulf of Mexico, where damage should be minimal or nonexistent. In the event of a major hurricane associated with torrential rains, the levee system will have to withstand water currents capable of washing out dams, knocking down bridges, and uprooting large trees and other structures.

For these reasons, it is imperative to avoid any unnecessary disturbances to the levee structures for any reason - including construction of the border wall - during the hurricane season. The reason should be obvious: if a major hurricane destined to impact the Rio Grande Valley develops this season over the Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico, we will have five or six days at most to prepare for it.

This brief time interval is probably sufficient to conduct an orderly evacuation of human inhabitants to safer areas, but it will almost certainly not provide enough time to "batten down the hatches" of any flood-control levees under construction before landfall occurs.

We need to be very wary of any statements issued by DHS or its contractors that initiating a major construction project - the border wall in particular - in our flood-control levee system during the middle of the hurricane season is perfectly safe and will pose no problems. With our present technology, no one but the Supreme Being himself can really say with certainty how large and powerful a given storm will become and how much damage it will cause when it hits land.

So, if the Lower Rio Grande Valley region is affected by a major hurricane this year and our levees hold up (including sections under construction at the time of landfall), then these "experts" will indeed be correct and the story will end happily. On the other hand, if they are wrong and the levee system fails, we might well find ourselves living in the midst of drowned and ruined cities such as those that are now commonplace in Southern Louisiana and other areas affected by Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

If DHS and its contractors choose to play the dangerous and potentially lethal game of Russian roulette, they should do it somewhere other than the Rio Grande Valley. The reason is simple: if we allow them to "do their thing" here and they fool around and blow their heads off, they are very likely take the rest of us - along with our homes, businesses, environment and culture - with them.

The DHS announcement that construction of the border wall in Hidalgo County will begin on July 25 - with or without our consent - clearly indicates how reckless and dangerous this program has become during the past year. Any county, state or federal official or contractor who cannot understand why initiating major construction projects on our levee system during the middle of the hurricane season is dangerous, or does not care, has no business mandating anything to anyone.

They also have no business building a border wall or anything else through our area. Although most of the federal laws designed to allow American citizens to challenge governmental actions have been waived by the secretary of homeland security in order to expedite completion of the border wall in Texas, we still have a few options left.

During the next several weeks, citizens groups will sponsor rallies and protests in several areas of the Valley (specific locations to be announced), and we still have the right to contact our elected governmental officials and congressional representatives and tell them what we think and what we want. If you believe that these issues are important to you and your family, try to take advantage of these opportunities because they are about the only options you have left to stop this poorly thought-out and dangerous project. Government officials and politicians alike will listen to you if the numbers are sufficient and the noise is loud enough - that's how they keep their jobs.

An obvious and acceptable short-term solution to the border wall issue would be to postpone construction in the Rio Grande Valley until after the 2008 hurricane season ends in late November, or to limit construction during the hurricane season per se to those areas of the levee system in dire need of repair.

A more acceptable long-term solution would be to put the entire border wall project on hold until this nation returns to normalcy and rational thinking after the November elections are over, and after our current presidential administration expires in January.

K. Rod Summy

Weslaco

Via the Internet

 Weak link against border wall

 As a recently elected mayor, I took the border wall issue to the Texas Border Coalition to address and make it a priority. I introduced Resolution 2007-056 titled "Brownsville-Matamoros Weir and reservoir Project As A Secure Fence Act Project To Secure the Southern United States Border" and Resolution 2007-071, titled "City Commission of Brownsville Expressing Opposition to the Construction of A Border Wall Along The Brownsville, Texas-Matamoros, Mexico Border." I hosted public hearings against the wall. I traveled to Washington, met with Homeland Security and Border Patrol representatives in opposition to the wall. And, as a TBC member, I made the motion to file the lawsuit against Michael Chertoff and Homeland Security opposing the wall.

Citizens from all over, along with Valley Interfaith who collected thousands of signatures and worked tirelessly against the wall, are not being heard by our city commissioners.

I have worked tirelessly to obtain a Mexican presidential permit for the weir project as a political solution to the proposed wall that will also provide additional water and allow us to build a riverwalk to build our economy. But was chastised by Commissioner Anthony Troiani in executive session, because Mexico has not issued a permit, which goes to show the lack of support and understanding to get things done.

I introduced Resolution 2008-047, titled "Authorizing City Staff to Execute a legal document that revokes authority, previously given by the City of Brownsville, Texas, to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Corps of Engineers to enter onto Municipal property for the purpose of surveying and to oppose the construction of any type of Border Wall and to join a ‘Class Action' lawsuit brought by TBC," which was voted against by the commission.

This is when I knew Brownsville was the weakest link against the wall and would be exploited by DHS, as they are doing now with the proposed secret agreement scheduled to be voted on July 1 by the commission.

As mayor, I have done everything within my power to stop the border wall, as has TBC with the lawsuit filed in Washington based in part on the following: 1) DHS at no time discussed ways to minimize the impact of the border wall on the environment, culture, commerce, or quality of life of our community; 2) it failed to clearly define the property interest it seeks in the land on which it plans plan to build the fence, inform us of the right to negotiate a fixed price for the property interest sought or attempt to negotiate with us a fixed price for such land; 3) at no time has any DHS official informed us of any rules, guidelines, instructions, directives or policies regarding any process by which we could exercise our right to negotiate for a fixed price for the land the government seeks in order to construct the border wall.

The U.S. government's failure to follow the Fence Act and condemnation statutes gives us the opportunity to stop the border wall and may force DHS to start the entire process over again, which goes against the congressional mandate to build the wall by December 2008. It may also make this issue moot and force DHS to consider virtual fencing.

Unfortunately this City Commission does not understand the consequences of working against TBC, Valley Interfaith, nature preserves, and everyone else's efforts to stop the border wall construction. At the June 17, city executive meeting, I made it very clear that Brownsville is perceived to be the weakest link and questioned the commission's authority to negotiate in secret with the federal government to build the border wall.

How can all of the border cities be united against the border wall but not Brownsville? Can our city commissioners be right in facilitating the construction of the border wall through secret negotiations?

All of the border cities throughout are united with TBC and are fighting on Brownsville's behalf, but our commissioners' unwillingness to stand united against the federal government undermines all who oppose the wall.

Brownsville has the most to lose. Commissioners' good intentions or lack of understanding will cause irreparable harm to our community.

Commissioner Troiani is not a constitutional lawyer, nor an expert in this field. This matter should be handled by TBC's constitutional lawyer Peter Shey in a court of law and not negotiated by amateurs. The commissioner's actions give DHS a legal advantage, which is being used by claiming that most of the 400 landowners, including the city of Brownsville, have given access. Therefore, there is no opposition to the wall, but only a few hotheads stirring up trouble, according to the General Accounting Office that met with TBC and me.

This mischaracterization and misrepresentation can be attributed to Brownsville's cooperation to build the wall.

The commissioners' failure to understand that our nature preserves like Sabal Palm, historic corridor, university, landowners and all border municipalities are adversely affected by these secret negotiations and gives DHS the upper hand to refute our legal position in a court of law goes against the will of the people.

That is why I am compelled to bring this matter to the public arena. The wall will cause devastating harm to our culture, commerce and quality of life in our community. Please ask your city commissioners to abide by Resolution 2007-056 and to support the TBC lawsuit along with Valley Interfaith's efforts to stop the construction of the wall.

We must all unite for the betterment of our community. I urge all landowners to sign the TBC affidavit stating opposition to the border wall by contacting me at (956) 543-3695.

This legal issue will go before the U.S. Supreme Court. I believe we can prevail if we speak with one voice through TBC and the border mayors. Negotiating in secret does not represent unity and contradicts all the resolutions passed against the wall.

This matter will be placed on the July 1 city agenda. Please go voice your support against the wall.

 Pat Ahumada is mayor of Brownsville.

 Discrimination in South Texas

 Illinois Senator Barack Obama's campaign to become the Democratic nominee for the presidency of the United States has triggered a reassessment of race relations in this country. Radio talk shows (mostly conservative) have pounced on this issue with glee, often ridiculing those who say Obama's candidacy has triggered a backlash of racism harking to a much darker past of Jim Crow laws and discrimination.

The controversy has become even more virulent with the emergence of issues like Pastor Jeremiah Wright, who ministered in Obama's church. And the debacle with the Rev. John Hagee, who endorsed John McCain, only to have the Republican candidate disendorse himself, and Hagee withdrawing the endorsement in return, was illuminating. Both these men of the cloth uttered remarks embarrassing to their respective candidates that show us just how deep-rooted racism in our society.

In South Texas, it is easy to say that nothing like that exists here. After all, as the chambers of commerce tell us, this is a tropical paradise where cultures live next to each other in relative harmony. Yet, ask those of us who are in our 60s and 70s if we ever experienced discrimination, and you'd be surprised at their response.

My memories go back to when I was a young boy growing up in rural Raymondville. South Texas can get very hot in the summer, and a dip in the pool pleases any youngster. The city pool in Raymondville was a very popular spot in those hot months.

Yet, if you went to the pool on Saturday, you'd see absolutely no Mexican-Americans in the pool. Go there on Sunday, and the place would be full. You see, it was an unspoken rule that only white kids could use the pool on Saturday. We Mexican kids could use it on Sunday. That way, white kids wouldn't have to bathe in water that had been dirtied by the Mexicans.

-- Alamo Elementary School was for Mexican students, Robert E. Lee for whites.

-- No Mexican boys ever started a football game. They were inserted only afterwards.

-- No Mexican student ever got a scholarship (from 1929 to 1949) until I did in 1950.

-- There were no Mexican teachers at the local high school until 1966.

-- At the Texas movie theater, Anglos sat in the middle rows. Mexicans sat on the side seats.

-- At the Texas Cafe, a sign warned that neither Mexicans nor dogs would be served.

-- Blacks had a one-room school for grades 1-12, with one teacher.

I read with mixed emotions that Edcouch-Elsa had recently repealed an ordinance that prohibited Mexicans from being in the white part of town unless they were maids or gardeners. In Raymondville, it was understood that if you were Mexican no one would sell you a home in the white part of town. This unspoken rule existed way after those kinds of restrictive covenants had been struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. You just didn't talk about it in mixed company.

During the Vietnam War it was said that the only time minorities were wanted up front was when they were sent to war. This is not as farfetched as it might seem to the uninitiated. During the World Wars and Korea, local draft boards could issue deferments of service for a variety of reasons. The abuse of these boards toward Mexican-American draftees is well documented.

And who can forget the national embarrassment caused in Three Rivers when the local funeral home would not allow the viewing of Medal of Honor winner Felix Longoria simply because he was Mexican? That case, and the refusal of the local cemetery to allow him burial there prompted Lyndon Johnson to step in and get permission to bury him among his fellow heroes at Arlington National Cemetery.

Incidents such as these prompted Mexican Americans to organize into groups like the League of United Latin American Citizens, American GI Forum and National Council of La Raza to combat the continued discrimination against Hispanics nationwide.

In Raymondville, where there had been no Mexican-American elected officials until my election as Willacy County tax assessor-collector and Edna Cisneros as district attorney in 1960, these slights were a way of life. That was to be expected since the King Ranch would buy between 200 to 300 poll-tax permits at $1.50 each to allow Mexican Americans to vote and support their candidates, thereby maintaining the status quo.

Over time, through struggle and determination, Mexican Americans and Anglos have worked out a method of coexistence that has held together and formed a fabric that - at times - has stretched and ripped, but holds us together as a society. Our young people are lucky that they didn't have to go through what their parents and grandparents did. But sometimes I wonder if they realize just how much that means.

I was heartened to read about the visit of writer and professor Rolando Hinojosa-Smith to the local university. One phrase that appeared in The Brownsville Herald pleased me in particular. Hinojosa-Smith reminded students never to forget that despite their individual intelligence and work, they were "standing on someone else's shoulders."

That phrase never rang so true to them as it did to some of us who lived in the early 1900s and saw the ugly head of racism and discrimination up close and personal.

As the election approaches in November, we will see how far we as a nation have really progressed on the question of race relations.

 Daniel Reyna lives in Brownsville.