HUNTSVILLE, AL - More than a hundred Hispanic students were absent from Huntsville City Schools on Monday, continuing a trend that began last Thursday, when the state's illegal immigration law went into effect.
Along with concerns about those students, these absences could mean a significant decrease in state funding. To avoid that and keep kids in school, Huntsville Superintendent Dr. Casey Wardynski is sending a message to their parents. He wants these families to know any citizenship information collected in schools will be kept anonymous, and used only for statistics.
The 111 Hispanic absences on Monday is fewer than last Thursday and Friday, but is still roughly 70 students more than the average number of absences. We spoke with some of these students who say their families are moving out of state.
How many of these absences will be permanent? Huntsville Superintendent Dr. Casey Wardynski says it could take time to know for sure.
He explains, “If a student leaves, we'll get paperwork from wherever they end up asking to withdraw them from our school district, so it takes a while to find out."
School officials wait with baited breath, since these withdrawals could get costly. Each student who leaves the Huntsville school system costs $4,500 in state funding.
However, since statistics will be collected for the undocumented students who remain, Wardynski says federal funding could make up for some of those lost funds: “It makes some sort of a case perhaps for federal aid, since the federal government's responsible for protecting our borders. Perhaps the state of Alabamamight be able to secure funding because there is an impact on the state for educating these children."
Although Huntsville schools will be enforcing the law, Wardynski hopes students won't withdraw because of it. He says, “We're not sending names anywhere, we're not contacting the police, that's not what the law calls for, and we're going to go on with the business of educating kids."
Out of the 23,000 students in Huntsville's school system, nearly 6 percent are classified as ESL students, or "English as second language."
