About 200 Latino immigrant parents gathered at San Francisco’s Sanchez Elementary School Thursday night to ask city and school district officials for a moratorium on new school programs, pending a comprehensive solution to what they say is a crisis in teaching immigrant students.
“We don’t want [our children] to be statistics,” said Maria Rocha, whose son is enrolled in the bi-lingual program at Cesar Chavez Elementary School.
Rocha says her son is struggling academically, and she is looking for an after-school community program to compensate for what she believes the school isn’t providing. Rocha says she has heard that other schools in the city provide better support for English Learners.
“[Latino English Learners] can succeed,” she said. “But we need support. That’s what we are asking for.” Rocha said that schools work differently in the United States than in her native Mexico, and that she is still learning to navigate the system.
SFUSD Mission Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero, Supervisor David Campos and Supervisor Scott Wiener were among the officials who attended. Wiener said the solution lies in raising the performance of troubled schools so that parents can stop jockeying for admission into a small number of schools perceived as the best.