Kaine addresses challenges of Fairfax schools’ growing minority population
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) called attention to both the challenges and the opportunities presented by the Fairfax County school system’s growing minority population while visiting Lake Anne Elementary Wednesday.
Students at the Reston elementary school speak 54 languages, principal Brendan Menuey told Kaine. More than a quarter of the school’s students have limited proficiency in English, and Parent-Teacher Association meetings are translated into Spanish and Arabic.
“School systems weren’t dealing with that 25 or 30 years ago,” Kaine said. “That requires resources to pull that off. But it’s preparing kids for the world we will all inhabit.”
Lake Anne Elementary mirrors the direction of the school district as a whole.
More than 170 languages are spoken at home by Fairfax County students, according to school system data. Of the school system’s 185,000 students, 16 percent - about 30,000 - require English language instruction. The cost of providing English language instruction is estimated at $3,481 per student.
Minorities now represent more than 40 percent of the total population of the state’s largest school district, and more than 60 percent of the elementary population. At Lake Anne, 62 percent of students are minorities.
This month, the county’s Board of Supervisors wrestled with the number of immigrant children coming into the county. In the first seven months of this year, 1,023 children apprehended by immigration authorities have been placed with guardians in Fairfax County this year, the sixth-largest total of any county in the nation.
The Board of Supervisors directed staff to investigate the costs of providing county services to these children, and also to explore options for getting reimbursement from the federal government.
Kaine said he knew about the issue, and though he did not venture into specific solutions he did express support for greater collaboration on education among federal, state and county officials.
While acknowledging the issues that can come with an increasing minority and immigrant population, Kaine visited Lake Anne Elementary to celebrate the diversity of Fairfax County schools.
“We live in a more global world all the time,” Kaine said. “A global economy connects us all. And the more global connections you have, the better off you can do.”
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, which spans from Sept. 15 to Oct.15, Kaine toured the school and spoke with four classes. In a third-grade Spanish immersion class, Kaine, who is fluent in the language, conversed with students and read them a book in Spanish.
He also talked with school administrators about the particular needs of the school, which has dealt with tightened budgets in recent years.
“But to try to have lots of interventions for kids and to try to have every kid on grade level when they’ve just arrived from another country is really, really difficult,” Menuey said.
The principal acknowledged that the funding problem existed more on the local and state levels, from which most education dollars flow, than on the federal level. “Still, the same choices they’re making at the federal level, we’re making at the school level,” Menuey said. “We want to do what we can with whatever we’ve got, so it’s about allocating and making tough choices.”
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