by Armando Manzanares

­Janet Murguía

Civil rights advocates and educators are urging the federal government to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act so long as improvements—such as full funding—are part of the deal.

The White House, a strong advocate for the law’s reauthorization’ met with leading civil rights activists and educators Oct. 9 to discuss the matter and confirm that education is the leading civil rights issue for the next 100 years.

Proponents of the law are also pushing for better assessment systems’ better inclusion of English Language Learners and students with disabilities in the accountability systems, and more training and support for teachers and parents, respectively. Rep.

Rubén Hinojosa (D-Texas) said progress is being made on the reauthorization and that key improvements have been added to ensure that more students have the opportunity to learn and excel in school.

Janet Murguía, president of the National Council of La Raza, said it is essential that current ELL provisions remain protected, but also “make sure we are able to stave off any other anti-immigrant provisions that could be proposed.”

“We got a commitment from the president that he would help us address those issues,” she said.

Members of the Conference on Civil Rights, the National Urban League and the Citizens’ Commission on Civil Rights also took part in the meeting with the President.

Other ELL advocates, however, are more critical of NCLE3 as it stands.

“It is killing bilingual education, It is a step  backward for equal education opportunity,” James Crawford, president for the Institute for Language and Education Policy, told Weekly Report.

Crawford added it is shocking to see certain organizations supporting a law of this kind and that NCLB must be “thoroughly reformed to eliminate excessive high-stakes testing – which is one of the major factors in the Latino dropout crisis.”

Supporters of the law’s reauthorization say it is crucial that it happens this year as next year is an election year.

Hispanic Link.­

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by Marvin J. Ramírez

Happy Anniversary Mission Council L-R: Carmen Valladares and Irma Pérez from the Probation Department; Jim Stillwell, Community Behavioral Health Services; and Leonard Chávez, director of Mission Council. (photo by Marvin J. Ramírez)

Like every year, the Mission Council took a break from counseling in drinking and drug abuse to celebrate one more year since the creation in 1978 of this formidable institution that has contributed so much with the Mission District.

With the most exquisite paellas and Senegal’s flavored appetizers and wine of the finest from, Savanna Jazz, members of the social and health community celebrated the 29th anniversary of the Mission Council Thursday, Oct. 18, while honoring with awards those who have excelled in their community service.

Committed to delivering culturally competent, community based services that are accessible to everyone, the Mission Council has been recognized nationwide for its innovative services. Among its services include a mental health component to serve dual diagnosed client. In concert with the Mission mental health program, they are able to provide greater wrap around services in affordable alcohol and drug abuse.

Specially recognized has been its alcohol abuse program for the Spanish speaking, which include outpatient counseling, and drug and alcohol education classes.­

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by the El Reportero news services

An opinion poll, published on 11 Oct., and the resignation of Alvaro Colom’s chief strategist, point to a win for the right wing candidate, Otto Pérez Molina, in the decisive second round of the presidential elections on 4 November.

The resignation of José Carlos Marroquín, Colom’s chief strategist, is the more important event. The manner of his resignation was odd: in an impromptu press conference Marroquín declared that he was “fighting against those who had brought Guatemala to its knees.”

The spin on this was that he was resigning because of death threats against his family. His words, however, could prove the deathknell for Colom’s faltering campaign: Colom’s campaign has been beset by allegations of corruption and links to organised crime.

Nicaraguan press accuses Ortega of disrespecting journalists

The Nicaraguan press accused this Friday President Daniel Ortega of “humiliating” and “disrespecting” journalists, to whom he forced to cover a governmental event with businesspeople until late hours of the night under the rain and through speakers.

Diario in his Friday edition.“The journalists who have had to come to enduring official acts that begin with several hours of delay, yesterday were submitted to a major scorn” when they were forced to listen “ the interventions of the exhibitors under the rain, via government radio, which were the only ones that were authorized to transmit the event,” denounced El Nuevo

The newspaper referred to the top business meeting held on Thursday with Ortega in a center of the capital to coordinate actions, to which only the official press had access.

“The monopoly of the transmissions is an abuse, but after everything, these official auditions do not have the same credibility as the independent media, which must not keep on being knocked down by the communication governmental policies,” said El Nuevo Diario.

The newspaper qualified the attitude of the president towards the press as “ a humiliation ­“, which adds to “ the recurrent delays “ of the activities of Ortega, which end at late hours of the night.

Also has expressed its protest the opponent daily La Prensa – summoned by the government for supposed tax debts – after its strong critiques against the Sandinista government for concealing public information and dismissing the officials who spread news without authorization of President Ortega, the leader Sandinista who returned to power last January.

by Alex Meneses Miyashita

A federal Judge blocked Oct. 10 implementation of a federal rule targeting undocumented workers, a decision hailed by labor, immigrant and civil rights groups who claim the regulation world affect all workers.

The Department of Homeland Security rule would have required employers receiving so-called “No Match” letters from­the Social Security Administration to notify employees with erroneous numbers to fix the discrepancy within 90 days or else have them fired.

Employers would also have been held liable if they did not take action against those workers who could not fix those discrepancies.

U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer issued a preliminary injunction on the regulation: meaning it will not go into effect until a final ruling comes after a trial, which has not been scheduled and which, according to sources, may not happen at all. The order was issued in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

“In his decision, (Breyer) was very clear that he found irreparable harm would be caused by these letters to workers,” Mariana Bustamante, education coordinator for the Immigrants Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, told Weekly Report.

Opponents of the regulation, which also include the AFL-CIO and the National Immigration Law Center, pressed the argument that if implemented, the rule would cause massive layoffs of legal workers because of SSA data errors.

Marielena Hincapié, director of programs for the NILC, told Weekly Report there are nearly 18 million discrepancies in its database, the vast majority of these (70 percent) pertaining U.S.-citizen workers.

Discrepancies could arise because of simple spelling mistakes, name changes or use of more than one surname, the groups maintain.

The rule was challenged in court by these groups early last month. Some 140,000 employers would have received these letters if it had been implemented.

The OHS has issued a response in which it states it is considering an appeal to the injunction.

DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff stated in defense of the regulation, “Ultimately, employer diligence will make it more difficult for illegal aliens to use a fraudulent Social Security number to get a job.”

He added the ruling “is yet another reminder of why we need Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform.”

Hincapié expressed optimism that even if the DHS appeals the judge’s decision, the order against its implementation will stand, based on their argument that it would cause “irreparable harm.~ She added the government has not been able to “make the direct correlation that this is about immigration status.”
­Hispanic Link.