Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Immigration info session scrapped in Vista school district

"If it was their children or their neighbors' children they would understand."

A Vista school meeting with an immigration attorney — set up to help parents prepare to protect their families should they be suddenly deported — was abruptly canceled Thursday (February 23), hours before it was set to begin.

The Vista Unified School District confirmed it was a district decision to cancel the meeting, expected to draw dozens of Vista-area parents to the Rancho Minerva Middle School.

"We were concerned that they hadn't gotten a permit from the district and the event didn't have the required insurance," said Vista Unified School District Kyle Ruggles, who is the director of human relations for the school district.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Teachers from Rancho Minerva Middle School and other schools in the district had organized the meeting in the past two weeks. They had recruited immigration attorney Esther Valdes to come and talk to the parents. Two teachers (who asked that their names not be used) confirmed the meeting had been set and then canceled.

Vista is a city of about 98,000 people, about 47,000 of whom are Hispanic. The city has about 24,000 children and youth between the ages of 5 and 18, according to the U.S. Census. The school district website says that of its 22,000 enrollees from kindergarten to high school, 60 percent are Hispanic and 58 percent qualify for free or discounted lunches, an indication of lower incomes.

Teachers worked with the San Diego County Office of Education's Migrant Education Program to set up the emergency meeting. Valdes volunteered her services and planned to bring documents and people to notarize them with her. She declined to comment on the sudden cancellation but outlined why the meeting was so important.

"Parents need to be prepared for the worst, and that preparation is detailed and complicated," she said. "Little kids need to have a key to the house, ten dollars in their pockets to get home, a cell phone, and someone to call to pick them up at school. Kids with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival need to be able to document that they've applied or they need to apply right away."

Undocumented parents who face deportation must decide if their U.S.-born children should stay in the U.S. and with whom — and have given those adults the signed permissions and powers they will need. If they are going to have their children meet them in Mexico, they need to have registered their American children as dual citizens of the U.S. and Mexico at the consul here, because Mexican schools won't accept students who are U.S. citizens.

"Those examples are just the beginning," Valdes said. "There are still tools to protect these families but they don't know about them and won't be told if they are detained for deportation."

One teacher blasted school-district officials for cancelling the meeting, saying the district had 700 absences since the nation’s president began issuing stepped-up deportation orders.

"These families are frightened and understandably so," she said. "I know my principal supports trying to help these families but the district doesn't. If it was their children or their neighbors' children they would understand but they just don't."

Dozens of parents showed up at the middle school Thursday night and were turned away, she said. "We are going to make this happen, community leaders are going to find a venue that will have us…. Politics should never come before the safety and help we can give the families we serve."

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gilbert Castellanos, Buddha Trixie, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Shane Hall, Brian Jones Rock ‘N’ Roll Revival

Grand Socials, gigs, and record releases in Del Mar, City Heights, Solana Beach, Little Italy, and Ocean Beach
Next Article

Taco Taco Poway still has 99-cent fish tacos

Tacotopia prizewinner is well known among Powegians

A Vista school meeting with an immigration attorney — set up to help parents prepare to protect their families should they be suddenly deported — was abruptly canceled Thursday (February 23), hours before it was set to begin.

The Vista Unified School District confirmed it was a district decision to cancel the meeting, expected to draw dozens of Vista-area parents to the Rancho Minerva Middle School.

"We were concerned that they hadn't gotten a permit from the district and the event didn't have the required insurance," said Vista Unified School District Kyle Ruggles, who is the director of human relations for the school district.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Teachers from Rancho Minerva Middle School and other schools in the district had organized the meeting in the past two weeks. They had recruited immigration attorney Esther Valdes to come and talk to the parents. Two teachers (who asked that their names not be used) confirmed the meeting had been set and then canceled.

Vista is a city of about 98,000 people, about 47,000 of whom are Hispanic. The city has about 24,000 children and youth between the ages of 5 and 18, according to the U.S. Census. The school district website says that of its 22,000 enrollees from kindergarten to high school, 60 percent are Hispanic and 58 percent qualify for free or discounted lunches, an indication of lower incomes.

Teachers worked with the San Diego County Office of Education's Migrant Education Program to set up the emergency meeting. Valdes volunteered her services and planned to bring documents and people to notarize them with her. She declined to comment on the sudden cancellation but outlined why the meeting was so important.

"Parents need to be prepared for the worst, and that preparation is detailed and complicated," she said. "Little kids need to have a key to the house, ten dollars in their pockets to get home, a cell phone, and someone to call to pick them up at school. Kids with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival need to be able to document that they've applied or they need to apply right away."

Undocumented parents who face deportation must decide if their U.S.-born children should stay in the U.S. and with whom — and have given those adults the signed permissions and powers they will need. If they are going to have their children meet them in Mexico, they need to have registered their American children as dual citizens of the U.S. and Mexico at the consul here, because Mexican schools won't accept students who are U.S. citizens.

"Those examples are just the beginning," Valdes said. "There are still tools to protect these families but they don't know about them and won't be told if they are detained for deportation."

One teacher blasted school-district officials for cancelling the meeting, saying the district had 700 absences since the nation’s president began issuing stepped-up deportation orders.

"These families are frightened and understandably so," she said. "I know my principal supports trying to help these families but the district doesn't. If it was their children or their neighbors' children they would understand but they just don't."

Dozens of parents showed up at the middle school Thursday night and were turned away, she said. "We are going to make this happen, community leaders are going to find a venue that will have us…. Politics should never come before the safety and help we can give the families we serve."

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Mid-range fleet scoring bluefin limits off Ensenada

Rockfish to open at all depths April 1st (no foolin’)
Next Article

A poem for March by Joseph O’Brien

“March’s Lovely Asymptotes”
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.