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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I went to FCPS ES-HS with a relatively large cohort of Vietnamese and Iranian refugees. I can’t think of one of my immigrant classmates who struggled to learn English nor do I recall any needing much or any special assistance. All were quickly integrated into the school community and several became my close friends. Notably and with few exceptions, this group ended up being high-achieving, stellar students.

FCPS is now overwhelmed by illegal immigrants and students who arrive here at 16 or older and emancipate themselves. [/quote]

And certain areas have large ESOL populations that are largely uninterested in assimilating because of undocumented individuals in their community or because of the resources/opportunities that already exist within their sub-community.  [/quote]

Vietnamese and Iranian refugees back then were political refugees, not economic migrants. Big difference. I also grew up in a neighborhood which was a destination for families fleeing these countries, by and large they were the children of educated, middle and upper class to wealthy highly skilled professionals (they had servants they weren't servants). The parents weren't illiterate and for the most part, they were fluent in multiple languages including English.

Now that's the first wave of Vietnamese immigrants, the subsequent waves, the "boat people" had issues similar to more modern economic migrants, but they were welcomed and given assistance from the Federal Govt. when they arrived. Their numbers were manageable, and they settled in cities, as per traditional immigrants of the past. And there were maybe a couple hundred thousand a year who were given status, so they worked above the table, but even still these later waves didn't have the same advantages as the first waves, often they were neither educated, financially stable or  proficient English speakers.

Also, immigration has changed, people no longer flock to cities, they often settle in the suburbs. This is true of the wealthier and more advantaged immigrants as well as the poorer less well educated (functionally or entirely illiterate) and they are arriving in big numbers. The Local, State and Fed. Governments need to cough up more money, a lot more money and they need to get creative in ways to bring these kids up much faster than they are doing. Fairfax One is great in theory, but in actuality in order to make it work, you need to make the pie a lot bigger. You need a lot more money for these groups, not the same amount of money, or even proportional amounts, and the outreach needs to not be just through the schools, but community based. But hey who wants to pay more taxes right? Even if a failure to do so means boats get dragged down rather than lifted up. [/quote]

The argument that we need to spend more on immigrant students to accommodate their needs overlooks a deeper issue—how the surge in undocumented students has fundamentally strained the FCPS system over time. In the 1990s, only about 9-10% of students were classified as ell, and the system could manage this without significant stress. By the 2000s, ELL numbers grew to 15%, a noticeable increase, but still manageable.

However, things began to change dramatically in the 2010s, when the percentage of ELL students surged to around 20%. This placed much greater pressure on FCPS to provide specialized language instruction and support services. Today, ELL students account for nearly 27% of the student population, with some schools like Justice High seeing almost 80% of their students in this category. This sharp rise has led to serious issues such as a 14% dropout rate and 24% chronic absenteeism at Justice High, pushing the school to the brink of losing accreditation.

The situation has been exacerbated by policies like Fairfax County’s "Trust Policy," which limits cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and has allowed the number of undocumented students to swell. Instead of pumping more taxpayer money into a system that is buckling under the pressure, we need to address the root cause: the growing influx of illegal immigrants. More spending will only serve as a temporary bandage for a problem that requires real enforcement of immigration laws.

By comparing the 90s to today, it’s clear that the increase in ELL students—many of whom are undocumented—is not sustainable. Schools are forced to divert resources to deal with the language barrier, leaving less for the rest of the student population. We should be focusing on controlling the flow of illegal immigration, not just throwing more money at the problem.[/quote]

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