Chapter One: Chaos and Hope
1. In August 2013 I interviewed Bill White, the school system’s chief of planning and accountability, and he confirmed much of what the guidance staff had told me about the technical problems.
2. Jane Roberts, “Carver High Students Boycott Class to Protest Problems,” The Commercial Appeal, September 10, 2012.
3. Howard Blume, “School Record System Report Critical; Consultant’s Newly Released Findings Bolster Complaints about L.A. Program,” Los Angeles Times, November 7, 2014; Howard Blume and Ruben Vives, “Judge Orders State to Fix Jefferson High Scheduling Issues,” Los Angeles Times, October 8, 2014. See also Joy Resmovits, “Settlement Seeks to Help Get Rid of ‘Sham’ Classes,” Los Angeles Times, November 6, 2015.
4. I’m referring to Margot by her first name because that’s what she almost always used in the school. Mario and Cristina likewise used their first names in their painting business. Some other adults, like Carlos Fuller, always used a courtesy title in the school, as in “Mr. Fuller,” so I refer to them that way in this book.
5. Peter T. Kilborn, “Where the Young Are Stranded in Poverty, a Good Samaritan Stops His Van,” The New York Times, January 31, 1993.
6. Louis Freedberg, Susan Frey and Lisa Chavez, Recovering from the Recession, EdSource, August 2013, http://edsource.org/wp-content/publications/pub13-school-stress.pdf. For information on rehiring, see Michelle Maitre, Counselors Optimistic about Resurgence in Schools, EdSource, January 22, 2015, http://edsource.org/2015/counselors-optimistic-about-resurgence-in-schools/73160 (accessed December 3, 2015), and this story on the Los Angeles public schools: Teresa Watanabe and Sara Hayden, “School Board Passes Bigger Budget,” Los Angeles Times, June 25, 2014.
7. For more on the role of counselors, see Michael Hurwitz and Jessica Howell, “Measuring the Impact of High School Counselors on College Enrollment,” College Board Advocacy & Policy Center Research Brief, February 2013, http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/advocacy/policycenter/research-brief-measuring-impact-high-school-counselors-college-enrollment.pdf. See also Cheona S. Woods and Thurston Domina, “The School Counselor Caseload and the High School-to-College Pipeline,” Teachers College Record Vol. 116, No. 10 (October 2014).
8. These paragraphs draw on my article “Military Culture: JROTC Instrumental at Kingsbury High,” The Commercial Appeal, December 26, 2011.
9. These particular titles were mentioned by Franklin Paz Arita in a June 2012 interview.
10. Ginger Thompson, “Immigration Clash Leaves Vidalia Onion Farmers Bitter,” The Chicago Tribune, May 28, 1998.
11. For coverage of Operation Vanguard, see the article by Cindy Gonzalez, “Vanguard Remains in Limbo,” Omaha World Herald, July 16, 2000.
12. Regarding INS enforcement priorities, see Louis Uchitelle, “I.N.S. Is Looking the Other Way as Illegal Immigrants Fill Jobs,” The New York Times, March 9, 2000.
13. The statistic on the small number of actions brought against employers for immigration violations refers to the 2004 fiscal year. See “Immigration Enforcement: Preliminary Observations on Employment Verification and Worksite Enforcement Efforts,” U.S. Government Accountability Office, June 21, 2005, p. 4. http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-05-822T. The statistic on 845 arrests also refers to the 2004 fiscal year and comes from a May 26, 2006, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement fact sheet on worksite enforcement efforts.
14. See my article “Arkansas Has Few Federal Immigration Agents,” Associated Press, May 16, 2006.
15. See Douglas S. Massey, Jorge Durand and Nolan J. Malone, Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Integration (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2002), p. 105.
16. Eric Posner, “There’s No Such Thing as an Illegal Immigrant,” Slate, February 4, 2013. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/view_from_chicago/2013/02/immigration_reform_illegal_immigrants_are_really_guest_workers.html (accessed November 23, 2015).