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Language adds to choice puzzle
By MONIQUE FIELDS, Times Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG -- The confusion started as soon as the forms for school choice hit Pinellas mailboxes. Parents of some Asian students threw the declaration of intent forms away because they didn't understand them. Others brought the forms, which must be turned in for every student by Dec. 13, to the Children of the World Preschool for help filling in the blanks.
Bic Dang, a bilingual teacher's aide at the preschool, went to the district's family centers and asked whether choice material was available in any other languages. It wasn't. "It should be," Dang said this week. As the Pinellas school district embarks on its choice plan for 2003, the language barrier at the Asian preschool underscores the particular difficulties families that speak little English encounter as they try to navigate the new system. School officials are reaching out to parents, particularly those who have incoming kindergarteners. The district is planning to translate choice application materials into Spanish and languages spoken by students from the former Yugoslavia, the two largest groups of limited English proficient students in Pinellas schools. In the coming weeks, the applications will be translated into Vietnamese for the third-largest group, said Christa Kirby, the district's coordinator of English for speakers of other languages, or ESOL. Those who need extra help should visit the nearest school with an ESOL program and ask to speak with a bilingual assistant, Kirby said. But Dang and others fear that some will be lost in the process that confuses even English-speaking families. Frustrated and eager to help families at the preschool, Crow called Pinellas County schools for help. School administrators visited the preschool this week and brought folders filled with applications, maps of attendance areas and lists of schools. The preschool provided translators and an audience of 19 anxious parents. Andrea Zahn, coordinator of community and marketing for the choice plan, stood in the front of the room and explained the plan. The parents, with children in tow, sat in preschool-sized chairs and pulled up to tables that stood just inches above the floor. Several conversations in three languages -- English, Vietnamese and Laotian -- swirled around the room. Zahn told the parents in English they had to fill out a form. If they didn't, the district would pick a school for them. Did they understand? Many parents nodded yes. But when the translators explained, the parents' eyes lit up. They asked questions back and forth in their native language. The parents at the preschool had the same questions as many English-speaking parents. They wanted to know how choice works, what it meant for their children and why they couldn't send their child to the school closest to their homes. Boutsy Ngonvongsa didn't understand she could choose where to send her children to school. When the declaration of intent came to her house, she signed up her two older children for Sexton Elementary School in St. Petersburg, the same school they attend now. She didn't realize she could apply to send her two older children and her youngest son, an incoming kindergartener, to a different school next year. "During the meeting, I thought about other schools," said Ngonvongsa, 31. "It just never occurred to me that I could send them to another school that is better." Van Hoang, 45, arrived at the meeting confused about why he couldn't send his son, Tony, to Lealman Elementary School in mid Pinellas, the school closest to his home. He now understands that he lives in one attendance area and the school is in another. But the answer to his initial question only raised more questions about finding the right school for his son. "I'm not sure if some schools are good or not," he said. Both parents have lived in the United States for nearly two decades. They said they know if they are confused, others who have lived here for less time have no idea what is happening in the school district. More help is needed, said Ngonvongsa, who has taken it upon herself to help her friends understand. "I have to tell them piece by piece what's going on," she said. Hoang said he is going to bring his application to the center so that Dang, the bilingual teacher's aide, can look at it. "I want her to check me before I send it," he said. Both parents' questions about choice were answered during the hourlong meeting, but they're worried about those who didn't attend. "They don't realize how important it is," Ngonvongsa said.
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