Parents and children — wearing purple T-shirts with “We Are Waukegan” in Spanish on the front — feared Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 was about to discontinue its dual-language program and were prepared to ask the Board of Education to keep it going.
Julie Contreras, who brought the group to the meeting, said afterward many are members of refugee and migrant families from Latin American countries seeking asylum in the United States.
Though their concern came from confusion over comments made at a June 11 board meeting and the English language learner program was not in jeopardy, they left before board President Brandon Ewing set the record straight.
“No one has suggested eliminating bilingual education in Waukegan,” Ewing said during his president’s report more than halfway through the meeting. “We remain fully committed to educating all students eligible for those programs as mandated by law.”
Ewing was forced to order a five-minute recess for the second consecutive meeting Tuesday at the Lincoln Center administration building in Waukegan after board member Anita Hanna refused to stop interrupting when asked because of protocol.
Early in the meeting before the time set aside for public comment, Ewing made it clear as he does each time the board is there to listen to what members of the audience have to say, but not to engage with them.
Contreras was the first of nine speakers from We Are Waukegan. She directed her comments at Hanna, who two weeks before demanded an update on the district’s African American Male Achievement Initiative during a discussion about programs for immigrants.
“You have made a history of generalizations about our immigrant students and teachers — specifically the repeated public, inflammatory remarks towards our Filipino teachers and staff, as well as innocent refugee students,” Contreras said.
When Contreras finished and the next speaker, a young child, was introduced, Hanna started talking. Ewing asked her to stop five times before calling the recess.
“I just want to tell everybody out there I did not discriminate against anyone,” Hanna said. “I was not saying anything discriminatory or derogatory against any student (or) any group of students.
“I’m not going to sit here and let someone defame my name,” she added after Ewing called the recess.
When the meeting resumed — Hanna did not return after the recess — eight members of We Are Waukegan spoke, including a young girl who said she walked across seven countries from her native Venezuela to reach the United States where her mother was waiting.
Luisang Valencia, the mother of two Waukegan High School students, said through an interpreter the district’s English learner program offered significant benefits to her children and others.
“The bilingual program has helped us, and they also help me because we don’t know how to speak English yet,” Valencia said through the interpreter. “It really would affect us greatly if they took it away. I ask that you don’t take it away.”
During the meeting two weeks ago, the board discussed the impact of the increase of newcomers — students who have lived in the U.S. for less than three years — and the programs being done to educate them. It is nearly 10% of the district’s student body.
While there was no discussion of discontinuing the English learner program, Contreras said the language barrier caused confusion. Some We Are Waukegan members were afraid it might happen.
By the time Ewing got to his president’s report nearly all of the people who spoke during public comment had left. It included the We Are Waukegan group. Ewing bemoaned how the members of the board were failing as role models.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed, and I’d be further lying if I didn’t say I was frustrated,” he said. “We talk about putting kids first, and we spend so much time infighting with one another that we rarely see progress.”
Board member Adriana Gonzalez said she too wants to see a change of behavior. She and her colleagues must be fully prepared, and they should not unexpectedly demand information from administrators.
“There are efforts in place to achieve success for all students, like our Black students who need resources and care, and our English language learners who need resources and care,” Gonzalez said. “We can pursue success plans for both populations at the same time, not only because we have a responsibility but because it is a mandate on which we have to deliver.”