Puerto Rico's budget woes boost Orlando teacher recruiting
Jan Hall's going to love this...
ORLANDO, Fla. - Orange County education recruiter Javier Melendez said Wednesday simple math is leading him to Puerto Rico to hire new teachers later this month.
Florida needs to hire 32,000 teachers to keep pace with increasing enrollment and stringent class-size requirements. Melendez said his district in Orlando needs 2,400 new teachers alone.
A government budget impasse in Puerto Rico has thrown more than 100,000 public employees out of work, including about 42,000 teachers. The crisis has crippled government services and hurt business in this U.S. territory.
"They have a special situation and we have a special situation because we are a booming district," Melendez said. "This is a good opportunity for us to go over there and support those teachers who want to come to the continental U.S."
Melendez said he has been recruiting in Puerto Rico for eight years, but the current financial crisis has created a unique opportunity to get talented teachers.
Melendez plans to travel to Puerto Rico in late May with a team to interview hundreds of hand-picked educators. School officials require candidates speak English and Spanish and give special consideration to certified teachers in hard-to-fill positions such as math, science and special education.
"Obviously," he said, "Orlando and central Florida are very attractive to Puerto Ricans because of our proximity to the island and our large Puerto Rican population."
posted by Pat Campbell @ 3:44 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
they make really good rum there too
Last year they were recruiting layed off unionized teachers from the inner city of Detroit. The teacher they hired as my sons teachers is fluent in ebonics. Than the plan was off to Mexico to look for the top bilingual speaking teachers. (maybe the MX recruit drive was in TX..) Eventually the schools in Orlando will be ranked below inner Detroit, and Mississippi. Puerto Rico currently ranks a lower education standard than Mississippi, (lowest in the USA), and has a crime rate higher than any US city, Orlando will be a wonderful place to live..
Amigos. Can't we just declare Spangenglish the National language? Canst we all just get along.
I will make this short and sweet...THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!
So, if the array is followed, is the following coming to a Central Florida school near you?
www.vdare.com
Immigrants Suing American Schools:An Extraordinary Sense Of Entitlement
[
Bryanna Bevens]
Liliana Valenzuela
is a senior at
Richmond High School in California.
She maintains a 3.84 GPA and hopes to pursue a career as a registered nurse after she graduates this June.
Up until today, Ms. Valenzuela was afraid she would not receive a diploma this year—because she has been unable to pass the California High School Exit
Exam.
As of this year, diplomas are only awarded to students who can demonstrate a math proficiency at the 7th grade level and an English proficiency at the 10th
grade level.
Yes, I said “awarded” as in “earned” not “given” as in “here’s a gift.”
Last February, Valenzuela and nine other students did what anybody else with an extraordinary sense of entitlement would do: they sued the State of California
citing discrimination.
This is the argument/evidence as reported in the San Francisco Chronicle:
Block quote start
“…low-income students and English learners who sued the state on February 8, claiming that many students have not had the opportunity to learn the material
on the exit exam because they went to substandard schools with unqualified teachers, insufficient textbooks, and squalid conditions.”[
Judge’s ruling blocks exit exam for this year
by Nanette Asimov and Bob Egelko 5/12/06]
Block quote end
According to the Attorney General arguing against the lawsuit, the real reason these kids can’t pass the test is simple: they don’t speak English.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Robert Freedman agreed with the students in a ruling issued earlier today. If students have met all the other requirements
for graduation, they will receive a diploma even if they fail to pass the exit examination.
Back to Ms. Valenzuela—the honor student and lead plaintiff in the case—let’s see how substandard her education has been.
Richmond High School maintains the
following standards for graduation:
Table with 2 columns and 8 rows
English/Language Arts
40
Credits
Mathematics
30
Credits (including
Algebra I or higher)
Science
20
Credits
Social Science
30 Credits
Physical Education
20
Credits
Fine Arts/Foreign
Language
10
Credits
Electives
75
Credits
225 Total Credits
table end
Bearing these numbers in mind, I have two questions:
1. How did Ms. Valenzuela pass all of these courses with roughly an “A” average if she cannot grasp 7th grade math or communicate proficiently in English?
Here’s the rub!
Clearly she was either
taught these courses in Spanish
(her primary language) or the teachers simply
granted high marks
to all students who were still breathing at the end of the day.
This brings us to my second question:
2. If the State of California was willing to
a) Incur the expense of administering all of her courses in Spanish and;
b) Provide her with instructors capable of teaching her to perform at such an exceptional level then;
How can it be said that Ms. Valenzuela attended “substandard schools with unqualified teachers, insufficient textbooks, and squalid conditions.”
Anybody with even a modicum of sense would say she had an exceptional education—perhaps a better education than the typical English-speaking student would
receive when you consider the advantage of one-on-one instruction.
She isn’t the victim of unfair treatment—she’s the beneficiary of special treatment.
English-speaking children get an off-the-rack education in California—non-English speaking children (specifically Spanish-speaking) get a tailor-made education.
Now it seems Valenzuela and others like her have found a way to graduate from an American High School without having to meet the same standards as everybody
else—without having to even speak English.
As for her aspirations in nursing…
A registered nurse needs, in most cases, a four-year degree.
Most four-year, accredited schools require either the SAT or the ACT exam for admission—neither are offered in Spanish.
Additionally, I would think math comes into play at some point in the education of a registered nurse—7th grade proficiency has stumped Valenzuela.
Finally, the State Nursing Board only administers the license exam in English.
So what is going to happen to Ms. Valenzuela?
One of two things:
1. She will find herself competing with students who have mastered the English language and can also do basic math (or better)—students who learned to work
hard because they had to meet higher standards.
As a result, she will find that she is qualified for little more than a job in the service industry—in short, no better off than life would have been without
her “American Dream” education.
2. She will sue everybody and their brother over the “discrimination” surrounding the SAT or ACT, college admission standards and various State Licensing
Boards.
As a result, Americans will find their healthcare in the hands of somebody in no way qualified for the job—in short, worse off than we were before we decided
to pay for her “American Dream” education.
I can’t wait for Bush’s speech on Monday!
HI:
Where and when this event is going to take place in Puerto Rico?
The interviews?
I'm a 17 year old elementary public school teacher interested !
Thanks
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