FOIA Find: Michael Hosang's Mar. 3 Email

WJCC school board member Hosang's request for information on Spanish-speaking students

Good morning,

I just got a response to a FOIA request I made a few weeks ago asking for any emails Williamsburg James City County school board member Michael Hosang had sent to school administration after he was elected to office. I received one email (portions redacted) sent on March 3 where he asked questions on a few different topics. I’ve included his inquiry about “Spanish Speaking Students” below, unedited. The full email can be found here.

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SPANISH SPEAKING STUDENTS

This past week, [redacted] and at least one other parent advised me that a large group of Spanish speaking males (approximately 20) started at Warhill High School. It appeared that the teachers were caught completely off guard, and the presence of these students were extremely distracting to the entire class.

Where did they come from? Are they here legally? Under what law, policy, regulation are schools required to teach illegal individuals? Why did such a large group start in the middle of a marking period? How many individuals, and in what schools, are these individuals in? Why were teachers not aware of them coming? Why were parents not notified of this? Why was no one in each of the classrooms who spoke Spanish to assist the teacher and students with this integration? How are the English speaking students getting instructed when the teachers have to spend the majority of time trying to reach out to the Spanish speaking individuals? Our students are still behind the state benchmark and this is limiting them from being properly educated. All of this (the size of the group, their unexpected appearance, no notice to parents, etc) is very concerning to parents. Our children’s safety is at issue here, especially if these individuals are undocumented/illegal, all coming at once, especially with all of the attention around the country of illegals raping/killing others, including students. What is the school system planning on doing to alleviate the need of teachers to spend most of their time trying to communicate with these individuals, at the expense of our children? Was a separate class considered for these individuals to get acclimated first, before thrusting them into the classrooms?

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