Public School Teachers Give In-Person Classes to Migrant Kids Before Own Students
San Diego Unified School District prioritizes migrants over American kids stuck at home
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Some San Diego public school teachers are giving in-person classes to recently-arrived migrant children while their own American students and stuck at home and restricted to virtual lessons.
Parents are angered over the move that sees taxpayer-funded teachers giving priority to migrants while their kids remain stuck at home working through virtual Zoom sessions.
On Monday, teachers from the San Diego County Office of Education joined nonprofit organizations to start providing educational services to some of the 500 minors who arrived in Texas and Arizona over the weekend after crossing the border illegally.
The illegal immigrant children, whose ages range from 13 to 17, are being sheltered at the San Diego Convention Center.
The center has been repurposed as a temporary overflow facility, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The facility is currently housing 350 teenage girls who arrived by charter flight on Saturday from a Border Patrol facility in the southern Texas town of Donna.
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However, American students in San Diego are currently learning in an online-only format and are expected to move into a hybrid model on April 12, where they will be learning in a combination of in-person and online formats, according to the school district's website.
"We have 130,000 kids who haven't been allowed in a classroom for over a year in the San Diego United School District," San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond told Fox News.
"It's great that there's in-person learning for those unaccompanied minors from Central America, but I wish every child in San Diego Country was allowed the same opportunity for in-person teaching."
"The system is broken when San Diego teachers are teaching migrant children in person, but the 100k students of taxpaying families at San Diego Unified School District are stuck learning in Zoom school," Emily Diaz, a San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) parent, told Fox News in an email.
"We agree that every child deserves an in-person education, but why are taxpaying students put last?" Diaz added.
"If this is a humanitarian issue then who is rescuing San Diego Unified students because our leaders have failed them."
SDUSD spokeswoman confirmed to Fox News that the district has shared the information about the opportunity for teachers to volunteer to teach migrant children in-person during their spring break this week, but said she doesn't know if teachers are getting paid, saying that it's up to the county.
The spokesperson added that she does not know if teachers will be reimbursed for their expenses.
Wait a minute... So you’re saying it is ok for San Diego teachers to teach in person... just not to San Diego children? https://t.co/jE56xYcQT3
— Reopen California Schools (@ReopenCASchools) March 29, 2021
"The San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE) is providing the educational program for the unaccompanied migrant children who will be staying at the San Diego Convention Center through July," an SDCOE spokesperson said in a statement.
"All children in California, regardless of immigration status, have a constitutional right to education.
"We also have a moral obligation to ensure a bright future for our children."
"The educational program will include English language development and social-emotional learning opportunities.
"The teachers who are participating in the program are doing so voluntarily, and the program is following a COVID-19 screening protocol based on guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."
"For more than a year, parents and students in San Diego County have waited for educators to answer one question: When will our schools reopen with in-person instruction only?," Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) said in response.
"And for a year, they’ve been told to wait."
"The decision to provide in-person instruction to illegal migrants is outrageous and parents have every right to be angry."
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"We are begging Newsom and the U.S. Department of Education, where our superintendent is going - rescue us!" Diaz, the SDUSD parent, told Fox News.
"This is an SOS," she continued.
"They must mandate 5 days of in-person learning for all students.
"Fourteen percent of our district are students with disabilities and 23% are English Language Learners.
"San Diego Unified took in millions of dollars in relief funding to bring them back at the beginning of the school year but only 6000 are in-person today and we have no idea how that money was used," she added.
"What is happening right now is immoral."
