Immigrant Students

'These kids are amazing. They take to school like there's nothing to it.' --Teacher Bruce Stohl On her 14th birthday on Wednesday, America Ramirez put on her tennis shoes, her pink nail polish and a sparkling set of earrings--and entered a difficult new phase of her life. Only two months after leaving Mexico City, she toted her bright yellow "Peanuts" lunch pail through the gates of Thomas Starr King Junior High School in Hollywood to spend her first day of school in a new country.

The group of high school students on a walking tour of Glendale last week hailed from countries as distant and dissimilar as Korea, Iran, El Salvador and Vietnam. Equipped with city maps, the students listened attentively as Glendale teacher Carolyn Anderson-Meadows gave capsule descriptions of such local landmarks as the City Hall, police station and library. They said their biggest kick was visiting Glendale's 240-store Galleria, where they stopped for soft drinks at a McDonald's.

Vacation time is the perfect time for an innovative program to help recently arrived immigrant students improve their English and learn skills that will help them in school, Los Angeles school district officials say. Now in their second year, newcomer classes are being offered at 20 San Fernando Valley schools--eight elementaries, seven junior highs and five senior highs. There are 427 of the classes at 106 schools in the district.

He's a bright and engaging 7-year-old with a winning smile and a little secret. "I have to tell you something," the boy, recently arrived from South America, confided to a reporter as he leaned across a noisy lunchroom table at Sweetwater Elementary School. "My name is not really Mike; it's Patricio." And why did he change his name? "Because I like Mike better," he said, scrunching up his face.

The voices of Peter, Paul & Mary have echoed through Belmont High School for weeks--but on Thursday, the trio arrived in the flesh. "You gotta check this out," said Paul Stookey, glancing at a poster on a wall of the school warning of clothing transgressions. "No hats." "I don't have a hat," said Mary Travers, patting her signature straight blond hair. "No beepers, no baggy pants," said Stookey, pinching the fabric of his khaki suit, satisfied he was within the rules.

Paul DeBonis spends a good portion of each day in the world of make-believe. One recent morning, he pretended he was eating a scrumptious meal, with invisible silverware and dishes. Then he stepped into an imaginary car and pretended to drive. No, DeBonis was not teaching pantomime to aspiring actors; he was teaching English. His task is not an easy one. In DeBonis' classroom of 10th- and 11th-graders are recent immigrants from Russia, Armenia, Central America and Vietnam.

Coming to America from the Philippines as educated adults, Enrique and Prosy dela Cruz never found identity to be an issue. But in raising their two Los Angeles-born children, they have come to realize how fragile the youngsters' Filipino American identity can be because of their interactions outside the home. "They're being told they're different all the time," said Enrique dela Cruz, assistant director of the Asian American Studies Center at UCLA and a philosopher by training.

The Los Angeles Unified School District, home to tens of thousands of immigrant students, is preparing to dismantle a clinic and counseling center that serves newcomers in the city's most crowded corridor. Budget cuts and a space crunch are prompting district officials to rethink the future of the Immigrant Student Assessment and Placement Center at Plasencia Elementary near downtown.

Little fanfare marked the end of the trimester for teacher David Barrett's San Pedro adult school English class. But for Imelda Ruvalcaba, and a large percentage of her classmates who passed final exams, the day was special. They had cleared a first, significant hurdle toward further studies, better job prospects and greater self-confidence. The class was among Barrett's most successful.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday granted illegal immigrants access to state financial aid at public universities and community colleges, putting California once again in the center of the nation's immigration debate. But he vetoed a measure that would have allowed state universities to consider applicants' race, gender and income to ensure diversity in their student populations. Deciding the fate of 50 education-related bills, the governor also rejected an effort to make it more difficult to establish charter schools.