Manassas Public Schools Welcomes The DOJ
By Greg L | 11 April 2008 | Manassas City | 37 Comments
Following a Washington Post article published in May of 2007 about the per-pupil spending for ESOL instruction in Manassas City Schools, the U.S. Department of Justice is launching an investigation into whether Manassas City Schools are sufficiently educating students who primarily speak a language other than English. Two other rationales for this federal investigation are cited as well - the wrongful disclosure of student information to zoning inspectors in 2006, and the existence of Help Save Manassas. Soon, Justice Department investigators will be observing selected classrooms in Manassas as the kickoff of an investigation to determine whether ESOL students are obtaining the required level of instruction and resources as prescribed under federal law. It is nothing other than another ridiculous attempt by activists within our federal government to pester and harass the City of Manassas.
As for the first question, the apparent problem here is that Manassas City Schools reported ESOL student-teacher ratios using the most conservative measure possible - simply the number of ESOL instructors, compared to the number of students requiring ESOL assistance. Other jurisdictions include administrators, support staff, and anything else that could be possibly related to ESOL instruction in their statistics, which made Manassas City look bad in comparison. The lesson here is that if you don’t make every effort possible to fraudulently inflate certain school statistics, a bunch of federal lawyers are going to come make your life a living hell. So much for encouraging honesty.
As for the second issue, the wrongful disclosure of student data to city zoning officials has been referred to the U.S. Department of Education, and school officials have been swift to address this unauthorized disclosure. I haven’t been able to confirm this, but the individual rumored to have been responsible for that breach is said to currently be serving a jail sentence for embezzlement, which if true would substantiate the argument that this wasn’t a problem with the school system, but a problem with an individual. Clearly the policy and practice of the Manassas City Schools has been to adequately safeguard student data.
The third rationale for this ridiculous waste of taxpayer dollars and the disruption this will cause for our students is the most egregious, however. Just because citizens have decided to advocate for policies that would reduce the number of illegal aliens unlawfully residing in Manassas, there is no reason for the federal government to start descending on public schools in an attempt to ferret out nonexistent claims of unlawful discrimination. A cynic here might conclude that the ultimate goal of this is to browbeat the city government to shut out these citizens, which would be an outrageous and unconstitutional abuse of federal authority. Whether that is the case or not, this still remains an intolerable attempt by federal bureaucrats with an agenda to punish efforts by a locality to deal with the problems that the federal government is responsible for in the first place.
So Manassas City Schools is going to go under the federal microscope tomorrow, courtesy not of the Department of Education, but the Department of Justice. You’d think that if this really had anything to do with the administration of Title 3 programs, the Department of Education would be conducting the investigation since they administer those programs. On the heels of a clean audit by the Department of Education of not only Title 3 Programs and Title 1 Programs this year, I guess the only way our federal government could continue its outrageous harassment of the City of Manassas is by bringing in the Department of Justice. Again.
Someone in the federal government has got to start reigning in these disturbingly common abuses. The DOJ is already abusing the city by its failure to resolve a three year old complaint over residential overcrowding measures, and now it wants to repeat this harassment with an investigation into whether the city schools are providing adequate resources for ESOL instruction. If the DOJ actually has probable cause to suspect a violation of the law, they should make that case and file a legal action. Since they don’t, they should get the hell out of our town until they can start acting more like a federal agency interested in ensuring compliance with the law instead of one determined to use legal threats to browbeat localities for political purposes.
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37 Comments
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What a bunch of crap. Of course the MJM will soon have an editorial bashing the City and anyone else who wants to do something about illegal immigration.
The fact more money is being spent on these criminals is enough proof they are getting an education as the expense of those that are not criminals. We can’t help the criminals are too stupid to even learn in their Native language.
The outcome is pretty predictable. We will have to spend even more money on the criminals and of course that cost will be put not where it belongs, on the criminals, but on those of us that pay taxes.
And, some wonder why I refuse to expose my child to such none sense.
“…the U.S. Department of Justice is launching an investigation into whether Manassas City Schools are sufficiently educating students who primarily speak a language other than English.”
Hmmmmmm…..I bet John Steinbach is tickled pink over this…..
I’m with COM, what a load of CRAP!
I’m not understanding why the DOJ would be concerned about ESOL classes. Wouldn’t that be under the Dept of Education?
It would be interesting to see just who ordered this ridiculous waste of taxpayer dollars. Someone has a vendetta and/or not enough work to do.
Funny, how the DOJ has a lot of time to spend in our fair City. Yet, it does not have the time to investigate why ICE is not doing their jobs.
Frank Wolf, you need to step up to the plate on this one. I would urge city residents to call Congressman Wolf and have him look into why the DOJ is handling this issue. I think the DOJ and others know that the city is afraid of ANY potential trouble as it relates to Hispanic’s and is try to intimidate them. They do this because it works.
You think the Federal Government is bad now, just wait until we get a President who doesn’t even bother to PRETEND that he’s a Conservative!!
Excuse me…I should have said “that he or she is a Conservative.” My bad.
Perhaps Linda Chavez had a little input into this?
Besides Frank Wolf, shouldn’t our delegates (Marshall & Miller) get involved defending the citizens who want the rule of law restored against this tyranny?
Greg do the research. You have friends on City Council. I am sure they can give you the details. This began with the HUD investigation for unfair housing practices in Manassas City and after HUD’s investigation it was turned over to DOJ. The school issue is linked to it because information was requested during the overcrowding investigations and it was released by someone in the schools. To this date I do not believe that name or names has been released.
Children are protected under the law and no child’s name, address or any information can be released if under the age of 18 and school records are confidential.
The City’s practice more than two years ago which began with the definintion of a family started all this and now the City is under the microscope. I suppose the DOJ is now looking at everything in the City.
George W Scumbag Bush has cognizance of this and wants amnesty and cheap labor and wage reduction in America. He is also aware of the Compos-Rameon travesty.
This will raise the level of concern of taxpayers. It shines a bright light on the plight of areas hard hit by the invasion.
I guess since getting rid of Gonzalez they have all kinds of free time to spend on new projects. Or perhaps this is a new smokescreen intended to blind us to a “final hour” hit on our Constitution by our current administration.
Nah, Linda Chavez lives in Loudoun County. She wouldn’t stick her nose in PWC, would she?
This administration cares more about “rights” for illegal aliens and Muslims than they do about US citizens. Look at what the Marines and Army have done–court martialing our own men on trumped up charges.
The DOJ has time for “witch hunts” but their federal prosecuter in Arizona refuses to charge Mexican pot smugglers who are carrying less than 500 lbs of drugs. 499 pounds and you are free to go!
Come on guys, you know we need to do more for the illegals
1. Start paying for more ESOL teacher assistants so that they can have more individualized help. (We can make cutbacks on art, music, and sports for the regular students. It’s not about taking care of our children, we need to provide for EVERYONE, you know how rich the U.S. is.
2. Hire more ESOL teachers so that the ESOL students do better than the “regular” kids.
3. Provide them with a taxi to pick them up and bring them to school.
4. Naturally they should get free breakfast, lunch, and all school supplies. But, what about Saturday and Sunday? We could open the school cafeterias to take care of the pesky weekends and school holidays.
5. Free summer school and it needs to last all day so the illegals will get free babysitting.
6. Of course we need to provide scholarships for the illegals so that they can go to college. I know it is hard for “regular” students to secure a place at a state college, but surely Americans will want to give up their child’s spot so that a needy illegal can go.
7. Provide free phone cards so that the illegals can call all their friends and relative in the “home country” so that they can get in on all that we have to offer.
I know that you’re being sarcastic A Reader, but be careful…there are FAR too many people who want to do just that, and you might be giving them ideas!
I am a parent of a child who attends an elementary school in the City of Manassas. As such, I visit my child’s classroom frequently to volunteer my time. Part of the work that I do while there involves working with some of the ESOL students on their reading and spelling assignments. These children are doing very well in comparison to the start of the year and have made visible progress. I know for a fact that the ESOL children are pulled out of the classroom for specialized instruction each day (sometimes multiple times per day), and that they are not being overlooked nor neglected. They are happy, eager to learn, and are treated with the same kindness and respect as the rest of the children. A story like this one in the Post is born of ignorance to what is really going on in the school system. Basing the analysis on monetary figures alone is ridiculous. Manassas City Schools are doing a great job with a challenging situation. My child is doing well there, as are his ESOL friends.
“Two other rationales for this federal investigation are cited as well - the wrongful disclosure of student information to zoning inspectors in 2006, and the existence of Help Save Manassas.”
So DOJ does not see HSM as a bonus to the citizens of Manassas or PWC?
Why doesn’t NASA come inspect the cafeterias to see that the lunch program is nutritional.
I have never heard of DOJ doing an on-site inspection of an educational program. I would expect this to be plastered all over the news.
There must be a little more to this story.
Dolph,
Of course there is. I find it funny, that a couple of football players can have sex in school, they get off free, the girls get kicked out of school. We have a bunch of illegals, and the criminal justice system seems more concerned with the feelings of illegals then they do with the infamous sex in school story.
Perhaps, Dolph, it might have something to do with the Administration’s support of a cheap, illegal alien workforce supporting big business (and those small and mid-size businesses that have also acquiesced to the temptation of improving that bottom line…and perhaps being able to compete). The success and, more importantly, spread of local action successfully addressing the illegal alien situation must be making the White House VERY nervous…and Prince William County (generally referred to by the media as Manassas, particularly because of HSM) has been touted nationally as taking point on the issue. They’re trying to make an example of someone and Manassas may be taking the hit because they’re more vulnerable than the County…and it doesn’t hurt (for the Fed) that we’re also the closest to DC. It’s just another attempt at intimidation, and can only be successful if Manassas allows it to be.
Off topic
Do our illegal aliens know that San Francisco wants them? We should do all we can to spread the word. Maybe San Francisco could work out a deal with moving companies or at least San Francisco could pay for the U-Hauls.
Well said Happy in the City. It’s nice to hear from someone who is in the schools and sees what is going on. Thanks for the information.
Citizen,
Get off the kids having sex thing. My God man it was over three and a half years ago. One incident, let it go.
Peter,
It should not be forgotten about, since it obviously involved political strings being pulled in order to keep starters from being suspended and therefore allowed them to keep playing which saved the football season.
I’m all for having good sports teams, but not at the expense of equal punishment and treatment. What other activities are being covered up by school officials to protect “star” athletes?
I would expect that children who cost almost twice as much to educate to gain something from the experence.
COM,
ALL the kids were suspended and the football players missed 2 games, so get your facts right and let it go. The SB punished as much as policy allowed. They were not satisfied with that so they changed the policy just in case anything like it happed again.
The culprit that released the info to the City was indeed the same person, female, who was arrested for embezellement. However, the info was not resquested by the city it was voluntarly turned over by the same as she filed her own overcrowding complaints as I was informed by a very reliable inspector source in the zoning department.
Peter,
Are you sure about that? Because I was told the football players were not suspended due to who they were and the importance they had to the team.
Of course I am not going to let it go, it is another sign of how poorly the public schools are in the City, and yet every year the libs yell and scream if there is even a hint the schools may not get all the money the board wants.
Oh for crying out loud citizenofManassas. Why can’t you let something go that happened three years ago. Peter is correct — suspensions were given and games were missed.
I am not a liberal (pretty conservative actually)–get a grip. Do you have students in the public school. By the way you are talking, I doubt it serioiusly. It is only people like you that are ignorant on facts that have to beat the “donkey” to death.
You are correct anon, volleyball players were suspended and the football players missed the Freedom and Woodbridge games. Woodbridge was the only loss of the regular season. No student got special treatment because of who they were, they got as much as policy allowed.
The fact that the city is being investigated by the DOJ because they spend too little on ESOL and that the ESOL kids are still learning at a high rate as compared to the other locals, tells me that the City Schools are being run well.
Ok, so I was provided wrong information. I still think this issue should be considered along with other issues to show the school system needs better oversight.
Peter G, not that it really matters, but I believe the football team went undefeated the year of the incident described on this subject. However, you are all correct that all the students involved were suspened games.
Anonymous said on 15 Apr 2008 at 7:43 pm:
yes, they were undefeated and the state champs
corr: and were the state champions
No they were not. That year they went 9-1, beat Franklin County at home in the first playoff game at home then on Thanksgiving weekend they lost to Hylton at Hylton. The next year, 2006 they went 14-0 and won the state championship.