follow up from class on tuesday

We spent a majority of time contemplating the fact of ESL schools in our nation. The fact is (and this is really sad to say) that most school districts who implement ESL in their schools set up administration who know very little about the positions they're inheriting. For example... my former principal was caught committing an immoral act of cheating on his wife. Personally, I couldn't care less. But in a gossiping town like Scranton where everyone is related to everyone else, the word got around quickly...the local newspapers got a hold of it and wouldn't let the subject die. The superintendent was forced to make a decision. (p.s neither the super nor the principal have taught in a classroom). After the incident went down, a position was created for this person where he would actually be getting a raise to be the coordinator of the ESL program for the entire school district. ((as a side note:: what kind of message does THAT send to kids??)) While a majority of the population in the school district speaks english, there has been an influx of Spanish speakers of those families who are looking for someplace cheaper to live than Philadelphia or New York. Only a handful of the teachers that have been hired to be in the ESL system actually speak a different language. It's used more as a stepping stone for promotions to a standard classroom as well as tenure.

What's worse is that most of the students who appear in the classroom in October will be gone by December because of their migrating parents who can't find work to keep food on the table. So back and forth they go from Scranton, to Wilkes Barre and the Poconos to Allentown...the list goes on and on.

Yet another sad story is that some of these kids who grow up in dysfunctional housing units with parents that teachers can never get a hold of grow up with disabilities that can't be diagnosed because A.) the student never stays in more than one place to get diagnosed by a counselor and B.) the pure selfishness of the parents to ignore the fact that the child needs help!

It seems to me that white suburbia is just testing the waters to see what will work in the years to come with ESL. What do some of your home districts do with these problems? Or are these problems eliminated/worse back home?