DROPOUT school problem brief.

Lico Reyes

Box 150001

Arlington, TX 76015

(817) 467-3087

Lico@Eaze.net

Sunday, 01 October, 2006

I am Lico Reyes formerly member of, Arlington League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)-4353Civil Rights Chair/ Chaplain. (Letter first composed 03-July-2000 at 7:30 AM.)

I know some of you have heard of the continuing dilemma with the Dropout/Attrition problem especially the approximate 70% Dropout rate among our Hispanic youth. Mr. Juan Paz Peña has warned many about the dire situation in the Arlington Independent School District (AISD) and the Texas Education Agency (TEA). I am proud that he has mentored me. Allow me to update you on this topic and set the record straight. I learned that the recorded TEA Dropout rates in the 1.0% range are false and deceptive by design.

In August 1999 I personally filed for an investigation of the actual and true Dropout/Attrition rate both in the AISD and TEA. My tools or record were 1. The research done on AISD's DO rates done by Juan Paz Peña and Mr. Richard Gonzalez (former LULAC-4353 president). 2. The February 1998 study commissioned by Hon. President Bill Clinton and the Congress entitled "No More Excuses" the Final Report of the Hispanic Dropout Project. 3. Insights on investigation procedures and techniques by Mr. Richard Sambrano (US Dept. of Justice, Community Relations Service), especially in his book LULAC Civil Rights Manual. 4. Inter-cultural Development Research Association's (IDRA) documentation of the horrendous DO/Attrition (AKA DOA) problem among Hispanic and other children. No Arlington individual had gone the extra mile and filed for an investigation due to fear of retribution from the AISD, City Hall, and employers connected to these entities. Fear for not only themselves but for their family and lively hood. You see; when one starts an investigation and proves this magnitude of injustice and civil rights violations against our children many heads can roll. I took up the fight well armed with the support of a small cadre of amigos and amigas of our children. I have nothing to lose but my soul and that belongs to God. Some one had to bite the bullet and I would gladly do it again for the sake of "ALL" our children!

About a month after my continued appeals to Mr. Paul Salinas, president LULAC-4353 (1998-2001); he allowed me to use the support and letterhead of LULAC-4353 as contributor to my investigation. I was working with Mr. Jack Washington of the US Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights through most of this process. At first it looked dismal. I then asked Mr. Harry Gudger, former president of the local NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) if he wanted me to bring his own case of discrimination into my ongoing investigation. The dropout rate among African American children is about 53%. The DO among white children stands at about 30%. Harry was a valuable ally in this fight to help level out the educational playing field for both children and school staff of "protected minority" status. Then TX Treasurer, Carolyn Rylander wrote me "Thank you for caring for our children Texas' greatest resource." Have suffered loss of jobs and social status? Yes! A.M.D.G.

According to Mr. Jack Washington (in the presence of Harry Gudger) had it not been for "your (Lico's) dogged insistence and stubbornness" in this matter the $85,000,000.00 funding for Texas' TEA Dropout problem in 2000 would not have occurred as quickly. AISD's share was $3,1000,000.00. (FYI: In 2006 that TEA Dropout funding has grown into about $102,000,000.00 Federal funds matched by $102,000,000.00 private industry/business funds totaling about 204 million dollars for the Dropout problem in Texas.)

However to complete the picture, had it not been for Texas Senators Henry Barrientos, Royce West (UTA Alumnus) and some heavy politicking by other legislators, none of that revenue would have been made available for the DO/Attrition problem. Thanks to the blood, sweat, and tears of stewards for our children like Gonzalez, Peña, Sambrano, Barrientos, and some white and African American legislators. Without their combined efforts this battle would be futile and "the educational genocide" would continue to cripple and destroy the chances of our children to survive, exist, and succeed in this country. We thank those unsung heroes who can not or may not lend their names to this effort for various reasons. This "Educational Hemorrhage" cost Texas parents 152,000 children and Texas taxpayers $49,000,000,000.00 (yes 49.1 billion dollars) in the 1998-1999 school year (IDRA).

As a member of the League of Women Voters (LWV) of Arlington and at one of 1999's forums on education I asked Dr. Mac Bernd (AISD superintendent) to explain the discrepancy between LULAC's and AISD's DO records. I enumerated some hard and incredibly high numbers that IDRA had published regarding costs and numbers in the DO situation. His comment was "Lico there is no dropout problem in Arlington." Not one of the reporters for the Star Telegram or the Dallas Morning News even made a mention of the incident/commentary. The press is in the hands of and beholding to the "cash cows" we know as City Hall and the ISD's. MALDEF (Mexican American Legal and Defense and Education Fund) may have lost the fight on the TAAS judgment but the judge did rule that the drop out rate was too high, remember? Finally, not enough thanks can be given to Andrea Elliott (www.ResearchAnalyst.org), for finding many news and Internet items verifying our deepest fears and making our detractors retract their "DENIAL" of this stealth crime against our children via falsification of High School Dropout rates.

A tentative agreement was proposed to former Dallas ISD board member, Ms. Kathaleen Leos, to talk to the US Administration in her position with the "No Child Left Behind" federal program. This agreement would keep harmless any administrator for any action or lack thereof which impacted the false/misleading dropout numbers and percentages. This would amount to an "amnesty" both with regard to school administrators and with regard to continued Federal funding to the Texas Education Agency. In this manner the funding will remain status quo and no administrator shall lose their job/position at any TEA school for past issues. To date, I have not received a response from either Ms. Leos or the US administrators, at any level. (Wednesday, 21 March, 2007)

Keep up the honorable and noble fight and all of our children will reap the rewards of your efforts amigos y amigas de LULAC. Any documentation at my disposal is available for your use; just ask.

Respectfully submitted,

Lico Reyes

LULAC International (Council -4779) President/CO-Founder

Arlington/Mansfield/Kennedale/Alvardo/SE Fort Wort area

National LULAC Civil Rights Man of the Year 2001.