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Marlene Monteolivo, left, moderates a live radio broadcast on dropout prevention with Clark County School District Superintendent Carlos Garcia and other education officials. The broadcast, on radio station KRLV-radio, AM 1340, took place at Rancho High School. Photo by Craig L. Moran.

Thursday, April 04, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Town hall meeting focuses on ways to keep Hispanic teens enrolled in school

More than one-third of the students who drop out of Clark County high schools are Hispanic.

On Wednesday, a Spanish-language talk radio station brought together a panel of education leaders for a live broadcast on dropout prevention and what families can do to keep children on track to earning a diploma.

The town hall meeting on education, sponsored by KRLV-radio, AM 1340 is one of four scheduled for this year.

Superintendent Carlos Garcia encouraged listeners to make education a priority in the home. Garcia, whose parents were farm workers, said he recalls teaching his mother to read as he learned to do so himself. Even though his parents did not have much formal education, Garcia said they encouraged their children to do well in school.

"The most beautiful part of learning English was being able to teach my mother and father to read English," said Garcia, whose comments were made in Spanish and translated into English.

Garcia stressed that as superintendent of the nation's sixth-largest school district, his first priority is equal access to educational opportunities for all students.

At a time when minorities now account for the majority of the population in district schools, Garcia questioned why enrollment in honors and advanced high school courses remains primarily white. He said he's encouraging school administrators to see that enrollment is more reflective of the school population.

Another part of the solution has to be training teachers to better meet the needs of students whose first language isn't English, Garcia said. To succeed in district schools, those students need to master language skills, and teachers have to be prepared to help them.

The district now has ongoing development for teachers aimed at making them literacy specialists. Garcia said the district now has about 42,000 students who aren't fluent in English.

"Soon that number is going to be 90,000," Garcia said. "These students aren't just going to disappear."

The Hispanic dropout problem isn't unique to Clark County. Aldo Aguirre, who works in special education and diversity programs for the Nevada Department of Education, said Hispanics drop out of school in higher rates than any other ethnic population in the state. Garcia said Hispanic boys are more likely to drop out than Hispanic girls.

Aguirre asked parents to encourage their children to develop ties to school -- statistics indicate Hispanic students have lower rates of participation in school activities and programs. He also asked parents to encourage education by example.

"Academic success doesn't start in the middle school or high school years," Aguirre said. "It starts at a young age, in the home."

Maria Chairez, the district's former dropout prevention specialist who is now assistant principal of Monaco Middle School, said families need to encourage children to have goals and high aspirations. As a mother, she said she makes it clear to her children that school is important. In her own family, she said she is the only female to earn a high school diploma, a college degree and a doctorate.

"I personally put a lot of pressure on my children to pursue an education," Chairez said.

- Review-Journal