Refugees sue Pa. district, charge school not good enough

[Origanalist]

A group of refugees is suing a Central Pennsylvania school district, saying the academy they were put in after their arduous journey to America is not up to snuff.

Represented by the Pennsylvania branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, the six refugees sued Lancaster schools in federal court, saying they were dumped in a disciplinary school and are being denied access to a quality education. The students range in age from 17 to 21, and hail from Somalia, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Burma.

“[The] Plaintiffs are refugees who have fled war, violence, and persecution from their native countries,” reads a statement from the lawsuit. “Having finally escaped their turbulent environment to resettle in America, these young immigrants yearn to learn English and get an education so they can make a life for themselves.”

The refugees hoped to enter McCaskey High School, known for its superior academic program, but instead were sent to Phoenix Academy, an alternative high school for “underachieving” students in the district. Phoenix students are subject to pat-downs, banned from bringing personal belongings like watches and jewelry and forced to wear colored shirts that “correspond with behavior.”

U.S. News and World Report's 2016 rankings show Phoenix Academy has a graduation rate of 54 percent, and its 458 students perform substantially below the state average on standardized tests. More than 90 percent of the students come from poor families, and there are just 11 full-time teachers at the school, according to the magazine.

“Our clients have already experienced much trauma and loss before arriving in this country,” Reggie Shuford, executive director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said in a statement. “Rather than helping them make the difficult adjustment by providing educational resources required by law, the school district has denied them an education completely or forced them into an alternative school, where they are often bullied and don’t learn.”

Officials for the school district say the six students were sent to Phoenix for a special program geared towards their needs.

Khadidja Issa, who arrived in America from Chad with her family by way of their home country Sudan, said on Tuesday school officials told her she “was too old for school" and should get a job instead.

“I responded that I didn’t want a job without an education,” she said.

full article...http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/08/18...od-enough.html

[Zippyjuan]

Nice to see that they are ambitious and want a more demanding education!

U.S. News and World Report's 2016 rankings show Phoenix Academy has a graduation rate of 54 percent, and its 458 students perform substantially below the state average on standardized tests. More than 90 percent of the students come from poor families, and there are just 11 full-time teachers at the school, according to the magazine.

[Origanalist]

Nice to see that they are ambitious and want a more demanding education!

They bitch about free education courtesy of the US taxpayer and you say it's nice to see?

U.S. News and World Report's 2016 rankings show Phoenix Academy has a graduation rate of 54 percent, and its 458 students perform substantially below the state average on standardized tests. More than 90 percent of the students come from poor families, and there are just 11 full-time teachers at the school, according to the magazine.

Who's fault is it the students don't graduate? It couldn't possibly be the student's could it?

“[The District] believes the lawsuit is without merit," Superintendent Damaris Rau said in a statement. "We are confident we are doing an excellent job supporting our refugee students who often come to school with little or no education.”

A special "acceleration program" at Phoenix was created for under-credited students, both refugee and non-refugee, which gives them the opportunity to earn credits toward a high school diploma by the age of 21, Rau said.

At Phoenix, the students receive various services including remedial services, English classes for Second Language Learners, after school programs, job and computer skills as well as mentoring services, Rau added.

[Zippyjuan]

“[The District] believes the lawsuit is without merit," Superintendent Damaris Rau said in a statement. "We are confident we are doing an excellent job supporting our refugee students who often come to school with little or no education.”

The students in the OP obviously don't fit that category.

[Origanalist]

The students in the OP obviously don't fit that category.

And you come to this conclusion how?

[Origanalist]

None of the students involved in the suit speak English. Their native languages include Swahili, Somali, Fur (an indigenous language of Darfur) and Hakha Chin (a language spoken in southern Asia).

Somali refugee Qasim Hassan told a Pennsylvania court that upon his arrival in America, “I did not find the school that I deserved.”
“We came to get a better education,” Sudanese refugee Khadidja Issa told the court.

//

[Anti Federalist]

For $#@!'s sake...

[Natural Citizen]

For $#@!'s sake...

Ah, man. It kills me when you say that. Every single time. I'm just flipping through the activity feed an there's AF....Oh, for $#@!'s sake!!

I've felt like saying it a few times myself, brother. Sometimes it's really the only thing worth saying.

[Valli6]

Someone needs to start telling immigrants that their expectations of a perfect, get-every-thing-you-want life in America, are a fantasy.

[timosman]

Someone needs to start telling immigrants that their expectations of a perfect, get-every-thing-you-want life in America, are a fantasy.

[libertyjam]

I guess they picked the wrong country to go to, should have picked Norway or Sweden.

[AuH20]

These people need a reality check. I'm pretty certain we didn't break away from England to provide 'excellent' multilingual schooling for third world immigrants. It sounds like they are hellbent to ruin a good thing.

[tod evans]

There's a member of the bar behind this BS.

And his/her name is listed on the suit.

Place blame where it belongs.

Drag the lawyer onto the public square and commence .

[Anti Federalist]

These people need a reality check. I'm pretty certain we didn't break away from England to provide 'excellent' multilingual schooling for third world immigrants. It sounds like they are hellbent to ruin a good thing.

Too late.

I'm pretty sure the Rubicon has been crossed.

[sam1952]

This cracks me up. For Christ sakes, learning to speak English should be their number one priority. Then get the education. What kind of work are they looking for, doctors, lawyers, rocket scientists? Dam, I was a house painter, labored for a brick layer, plasterer (hardest job I ever had) dishwasher, flipped burgers at a Roy Rodgers, mopped floors in a hospital, stock boy in a shoe store.

I appreciate someone who wants to better themselves. But ya gotta go from step one to two, three, ect. Sounds like that wanna go from step one to ten skipping the other steps blaming the system.

[Anti Federalist]

This cracks me up. For Christ sakes, learning to speak English should be their number one priority. Then get the education. What kind of work are they looking for, doctors, lawyers, rocket scientists? Dam, I was a house painter, labored for a brick layer, plasterer (hardest job I ever had) dishwasher, flipped burgers at a Roy Rodgers, mopped floors in a hospital, stock boy in a shoe store.

I appreciate someone who wants to better themselves. But ya gotta go from step one to two, three, ect. Sounds like that wanna go from step one to ten skipping the other steps blaming the system.

Work?

After they all win a multi million dollar lawsuit, there will be no need for all that.

[tod evans]

Work?

After they all win a multi million dollar lawsuit, there will be no need for all that.

Only for the lawyer behind all this BS, the 4 idiots posing for the picture will still be unqualified to flip burgers.

[Brian4Liberty]

Future Democrats, all happy to vote for crony globalist socialists who promise them a few scraps.

[RestorationOfLiberty]

Nice to see that they are ambitious and want a more demanding education!

So you pay for it out of your pocket, or better yet we stop allowing in these welfare cases and stop the lie of the refugee program.

[ghengis86]

I guess not getting shot at, ethnically cleansed or beaten to a bloody pulp wasn't good enough. $#@!, feel free to go back to the $#@!hole fr whence you came.

Judas...the first thing my immigrant grandparents did - after going through Ellis Island - was to ban speaking their native tongue in the house. Ironically, it was my grandfather's rule and he had the hardest time learning English. But he told everyone, we're Americans now, we will all learn English.

Worked alright for them, why the $#@! can't everyone else pull up their sissy pants and do it?

[alucard13mm]

Lol.... everyone thinks america, europe, and all predominantly white countries owe something to the rest of the world. So lets see... these new immigrants vote overwhelmingly for democrat and socialist policies... which opens the door for new immigrants. It takes 2 to 3 generations of the children of immigrants to have a somewhat normal spread of liberals and conservative. But liberalism and socialism will prevail.

Would you guys allow 100 million migrants to become citizens if those 100 million are against gun ownership?

[jkr]

THEN
GO
THE FUK
HOME

[Brian4Liberty]

I guess not getting shot at, ethnically cleansed or beaten to a bloody pulp wasn't good enough. $#@!, feel free to go back to the $#@!hole fr whence you came.

Kind of makes you question the "refugee" status and lean more towards the "get free stuff" status.