Asheville Citizen Times (North Carolina)
By Julie Ball
September 1, 2015
Erwin
High School will hold a community meeting Wednesday morning in the wake
of concerns over signs posted outside a classroom as part of a homework
assignment tied to
immigration.
One
sign read “Illegals Go Home.” Another read “America is for Americans.”
Photos of the signs were posted on social media, prompting concerns from
the community and students.
Students
in an Erwin High civics and economics class were studying changing
viewpoints on immigration, according to Brian Gonzales, social studies
department chair.
“Essentially
the overall assignment was dealing with the objective of how the United
States historically has changed its perception and interpretation of
the American
identity based on those groups that have come over throughout the
history of the United States,” Gonzales said.
The
teacher had an honors class and a standard class. Students in the
honors class were asked to write an essay. Students in the standard
class were asked to come up with
a bumper sticker.
They were asked to create “a product that expressed various viewpoints,” according to Gonzales.
Just a handful of the 30 or so signs reflected an anti-undocumented immigrant viewpoint, Gonzales said.
Other signs read, “No Human is Illegal” and “We are One.”
But school officials say the signs should not have been posted in the hallway without the context of the lesson.
“I
think stuck out there in the hall without any type of explanation or
any type of putting things into context, it was quickly taken out of
context. And of course once
it got on Facebook, it took a life of its own,” said Erwin High
Principal Jim Brown.
Brown met with half of dozen people Wednesday morning representing the African-American and Latino communities.
“They
were here waiting for me before school began,” Brown said. “As a result
of that meeting, we thought it would be best to have another meeting
tomorrow morning to
invite additional folks to come in and be part of this discussion.”
Brown
said he wants to hear the concerns, try to address them and also allow
the community to hear from Gonzales and others at the school regarding
the lesson. The meeting
will take place at 7:30 a.m. at the school.
“I
think the school acknowledges the concerns from students and parents
who were offended by this, and I think in general the entire school
feels a sense of sadness for
those families that were understandably offended by this not knowing
the context of what this is coming from,” said Eric Grant, Buncombe
County Schools English Language Arts and Social Studies specialist.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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