Judge hears immigrant teens' plea to be let into Collier schools

A group of immigrant teenagers who say they were denied entry to Collier County high schools and instead were placed in adult English-learning programs are still waiting to see whether they can join their peers.

The immigrant students, some of whom arrived in Collier more than a year ago, filed a motion in June for a preliminary injunction that would allow them to enroll in classes while their federal lawsuit against the Collier County School Board plays out. 

Collier schools began classes for the 2017-18 year Wednesday. 

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The suit alleges school officials illegally blocked and then diverted the students from Collier public schools because of their birthplaces and poor English skills.

On Thursday, Magistrate Judge Mac R. McCoy heard oral arguments from both sides at the U.S. Courthouse in Fort Myers in connection with the students' request to temporarily be allowed to enroll in a regular public high school. 

“The school year has begun, and as they get older,” their chance at free public education in a high school setting “diminishes,” argued Michelle Lapointe, an attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center, a national civil rights advocacy group based in Alabama. The group filed the original lawsuit more than a year ago.

“We’re seeking parity of participation,” Lapointe said.

Currently, the three students, from Guatemala and Haiti, are taking classes at Immokalee and Lorenzo Walker technical colleges. But they have argued in past filings that those classes amount to a lesser education, with no real pathway to a diploma.

Those courses are also filled with classmates who are much older than them, according to the 17- and 18-year-old students, who are identified only by initials in the suit.

In those courses, the immigrant students learn only conversational English, don’t earn credits toward a high school diploma and are not able to study any academic subjects, Lapointe said. 

“The law requires and plaintiffs are seeking the chance to have access to core academic content and the curriculum that is taught in the public schools, related to that content,” she said after the hearing. 

“They want to have all the subjects that they would get in high school: math, science, social studies, language arts, health, gym. All these things that are required for public school. They’re not getting that in Adult Ed.”

And the English they are being taught in the Adult English for Speakers of Other Languages program is not up to snuff with the district’s own English Language Learner standards, Lapointe said.

“They’re not learning English in the way that they’re supposed to learn English according to Florida and federal law and according to the district’s own ELL plan,” she said. 

“They’re supposed to learn comprehensive, robust, academic English where they develop rich vocabulary and really meaningful language skills. And that’s not what they get in Adult ESOL; they learn life skills.”

Attorneys for the district, however, argued that the students were enrolled in the program because they need to be adept in English before they can move on to more complex subjects.

“The goal is to get them very proficient so they’ll do well in the content area,” said Jon Fishbane, the district’s general counsel.

The district diverted the students to the Adult ESOL program not based on where they’re from but because of their academic level and their relatively advanced ages, argued Jim Fox, a private attorney hired by the school district.

“Where is the evidence that this was done on account of national origin?” he asked during the hearing.

Moving students — who will be 19 and 18 before the end of the year and potentially 23 by the time they could graduate — to a regular public high school would be inappropriate, Fox said. 

“Are we really going to do this to these students?” he asked.

After lawyers from both sides sparred for about four hours, McCoy said he would take the motion under advisement. 

Once he issues a recommendation, either side can object before the case is passed on to a judge who will decide whether the students can temporarily enroll in classes with their peers.