Running Head: COMMUNITY RESEARCH PROJECT ON IMMIGRATION GUIDELINES 1

Community Research project on Immigration Guidelines

Genoa X. Lyoubi
Zoltan Tamasi
University of Nevada, Las Vegas








Requirement for Course CIG 1001
Dr. Christine Clark
May 1, 2013
Barrettm@unlv.nevada.edu
Zoltan1a@aol.com
COMMUNITY RESEARCH PROJECT ON IMMIGRATION GUIDELINES 2

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to inform the reader of the impact immigration laws have
on student success in public education. We studied nationwide and local state immigration
laws, and found that the DREAM Act has yet to be passed in congress. There are some states,
including Nevada, which took individual aspects of the DREAM Act and made them a reality.
Zoltan breaks down the Differed Action for Childhood Arrivals Act, the Clark County Policies,
and the Title 1 Assistance program. William E. Snyder Elementary School allowed us to visit and
observe a kindergarten class, and we witnessed Ms. Miners multicultural curriculum in action.
We interviewed staff members, one of which is part of an organization that decides which
policies are implemented into the school.












COMMUNITY RESEARCH PROJECT ON IMMIGRATION GUIDELINES 3

Community Research project on Immigration Guidelines
Introduction
The main idea surrounding this paper is to communicate the repercussions immigration
laws have on students in America. Zoltan will describe immigration laws in this country and in
particular Nevada. William E. Snyder Elementary School granted us permission to visit, and so
Genoa will detail our experience there which included two interviews and a class observation.
Research Process
Our first meeting was our starting point in summarizing what we were going to tackle.
We outlined the criteria that needed to be met and decided our research plan. Genoa
researched the DREAM Act local laws here in Las Vegas as well as any other laws that pertained,
and Zoltan researched the DREAM Act nationwide, as well as any other laws that pertained.
We maintained contact over the phone everyday to reinforce ideas to one another. Genoas
husband, Namyd, spoke to his fellow classmate (Sarah Balch) whom works at Tate Snyder
Kimsey Architects, and she spoke to Mr. Bill Snyder about possibly giving us access to the
elementary school, William E. Snyder. He emailed back immediately and informed that we
could visit and put us in contact with Ms. Laura M. Viggato, who is the literacy specialist there.
She then put us in contact with Ms. Jessica (Jessie) M. Kirsch, whom of which is the counselor at
William E. Snyder ES. She was very nice and welcoming to us.
Results
According to the DREAM Act Portal (2013), Over three million students graduate from
U.S. high schools every year. Most get the opportunity to test their dreams and live their
American story. However, a group of approximately 65,000 youth do not get this opportunity;
COMMUNITY RESEARCH PROJECT ON IMMIGRATION GUIDELINES 4

they are smeared with an inherited title, an illegal immigrant. These youth have lived in the
United States for most of their lives and want nothing more than to be recognized for what
they are, Americans (DREAM, para. 1). The DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education
for Alien Minors) is a proposed bill that would provide the youth of families who reside here
illegally the opportunity to gain permanent residency in the United States. Provisions state that
the individual must have entered the country prior to the age of 16, resided in the country
continuously for five years, graduated from a U.S. high school, and must have good moral
character. The individual who meets those requirements would then have a six year window to
complete two years of schooling at a university or community college or serve two years in any
of the branches of the military. Once 5 years of the 6 years have passed, the individual will
then have the ability to apply for Legal Permanent Residency and pursue United States
Citizenship.
The DREAM Act unfortunately, has remained just a dream for many since it was first
introduced in 2001 by Dick Durbin and Orrin Hatch. Members of Congress continue to debate
on the various conditions which make up this bill. While the DREAM Act remains bogged down
in Congress, the Department of Homeland Security enacted DACA (Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals) on June 15, 2012 which defers the deportation of individuals who came to
the United States as children. DACA does provide some reprieve for many individuals, but as
stated by the Homeland Security (2013) Deferred action does not provide lawful status or a
pathway to citizenship. As the President has stated, individuals who would qualify for the
DREAM Act deserve certainty about their status. Only the Congress, acting through its
legislative authority, can confer the certainty that comes with a pathway to permanent lawful
COMMUNITY RESEARCH PROJECT ON IMMIGRATION GUIDELINES 5

status (Homeland Security, para. 5). DACA can be best described as Band-Aid for a serious
wound for many who wish to possess the benefits that are obtained from lawful citizenship.
According to Online Global Immigration and Visa Services (2012), We are all left to
wonder what will happen with comprehensive, national immigration reform as the federal
government works toward a bipartisan solution. Nevertheless, many states have taken the
issue into their own hands (Online Global, para. 1). States such as: California, Illinois, Kansas,
Massachusetts, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, Maryland, New Mexico, Nebraska, New York,
and Utah have enacted pieces of the DREAM Act legislation giving students the ability to
receive private scholarships, state financial aid, university grants, and community college fee
waivers. States may be able to offer these solutions to some of their students, but Adam
Serwer a reporter with Mother Jones makes a great point (2011), States can offer in state
tuition to undocumented immigrant studentsor in the case of California, allow them to apply
for private scholarships, but they can't offer a path to citizenship, which is a critical distinction
(Serwer, 2011). These State solutions dont prevent students from being deported if they are
unable to meet key guidelines. According to Adam Serwer (2011), "let's deport all those kids I
just spent taxpayer dollars helping get an education" (Serwer, 2011). Its this mentality that is
embraced by most of Americans today. In the Bigelow reading, students were compassionate
during the lessons Mr. Bigelow presented and participated with all of their hearts. Yet, in the
end he mentions, *a+fter students previous expressions of empathy, I was unprepared for the
blizzard of nationalistic comments from them (Bigelow, 2006). When the final moment was at
hand, and the students had to decide whether or not certain beneficial immigration laws should
be passed, it was disappointing and heartbreaking to hear their comments.
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Currently Nevada has only adopted a very small portion of the DREAM Act. Immigrants
brought to the country illegally as children and granted a temporary reprieve by DACA are now
eligible for Nevada driver's licenses and state IDs. This is a huge victory for many in Nevada as
they see progress in this very complex policy. Unfortunately, the policy does not come without
skepticism as Immigration experts had been unsure whether the Nevada DMV would accept the
employment authorization cards issued to those who received deferred action. According to
the Las Vegas Sun (2012), There is not a clear rule on it, and it could vary from office to office,
said Angela Morrison, a visiting assistant professor at UNLV who had served as the legal
director of the Nevada Immigrant Resource Project at the Boyd School of Law (Schwartz,
2012). Others also believe issuing drivers licenses to Dreamers is not a good idea because
drivers licenses provide other privileges now not granted to illegal immigrants, such as voting.
According to the Las Vegas Sun (2012) quotes Nevada State Senator James Settelmeyer on this
matter, If any individual doesnt have full status, to me, they shouldnt have a full driver's
license, Settelmeyer said. A lot of facets need to be discussed at the Legislature. I, myself, do
not prefer to see an agency head make a decision that has such large repercussions (Schwartz,
2012).
The Clark County School District policy on undocumented youth is the same as all public
schools across the nation. According to Wikipedia (2013), In the United States, children are
given the right to an elementary and secondary education (K-12) regardless of their
immigration status (Undocumented Students, para. 4). As reported by Wikipedia, (2013)
public schools are not allowed to: deny admission to a student on the basis of undocumented
status, treat a student fundamentally differently from others when determining residency,
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engage in practices that frighten undocumented students and their families away from school
access, require students or parents to disclose or document immigration status, make inquiries
of students or parents that may expose their undocumented status, or require Social Security
numbers from any student (Undocumented Students, para. 8). Immigration status can be a
huge burden for many of the students in the CCSD, but through Title I assistance many of their
basic needs can be met without worry of criminal action. Title I assistance provides students in
need with free breakfast and lunch, clothing/shoes, one on one tutoring, backpacks and school
supplies, and CCSD school bus or RTC bus passes. Parents also have access to various support
groups to meet their physical, emotional, and social needs.
Interview: Jessie M. Kirsch Counselor at Snyder School.
We asked what her opinion was on the DREAM Act. Jessie thought it is very
important. She talked about the importance for kids to have access to an education, but she
was more interested in talking about how losing parents to deportation affected the students.
It seemed to us that she wasnt completely informed on the specifics of the DREAM Act.
Curiously enough, throughout the school experience we noticed the staff was generally not
familiar with the DREAM Act in general. As we talk about later, the third grade teacher we
interviewed flat out told us she didnt know what it was.
Genoa asked her what the demographics are at the school. She said 80% Hispanic, 10%
African American, 5% Asian Pacific, and 5% white. They have a very high turnover rate due to
the majority of immigrant students attending Snyder School. She called it the revolving door.
Zoltan asked what the standards are of knowing there are illegal immigrants at the
school and how they address these families. We found out that schools in Nevada, or
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anywhere in the United States, cannot ask if a student is an illegal immigrant. Unlike what
Measure 34-186 stands for, every child DOES have the right to an education (Fear and Learning
at Hoover Elementary)! Staff members are not allowed to call the immigration office on neither
child nor parent. Ms. Kirsch spoke of the difficulties students have sometimes due to losing
their parents when they are sent back to Mexico. Students are then cared for by other family
members, or by the state if family is not available. Sometimes the immigration office just sends
one parent back for a while and then upon return, the other parent gets sent. Jessie explains
this is a common thing to witness at Snyder School. She also talked about how parents refuse
to sign permission slips for fieldtrips because of the fear of their child being exposed and taken
to immigration.
We asked about the programs offered at Snyder School. Jessie said that some of the
children are homeless. If a family lives in a hotel, motel, or RV park they are considered
homeless as well. She mentioned that it is hard to learn when basic needs arent being met.
At Snyder School, families come for food and basic needs. The school provides toiletries to the
families. When children are living in cars or in poor housing, one can only imagine how difficult
it is to be able to focus on homework or projects. They offer TITLE I HOPE: Homeless Outreach
Program for Education. The program finds homeless kids, enrolls them in the school and
informs the parents of the educational options they have for their children. The staff is
educated on homeless parental rights. The program also arranges free breakfast and lunch for
students K-12, provides clothing/shoes for high school students, transportation, and distributes
backpacks and supplies. Snyder School helps families obtain birth certificates, address
COMMUNITY RESEARCH PROJECT ON IMMIGRATION GUIDELINES 9

verification, immunization records, and school records. Title I HOPE also receives holiday
donations for homeless families.
Another program they provide at William E. Snyder is a primary and intermediate
autism program that helps students learn more efficiently. The librarian, Ms. Diana Dreyer,
holds afternoon Adult English Language Acquisition Services (AELAS) for non-English speakers.
She has class Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays from 5-8pm. The curriculum for this
program is offered by the Clark County School District. Something else that Jessie noted about
this program is that it also provides additional services to immigrants in Las Vegas such as,
GED referrals, continuing education, counseling, family assistance, and free state-licensed
notary services.
Genoa asked her about their school ratings, that they are 4/5 across the board besides
parent involvement (3/5), why that is, and what they do to help that. She said they have a new
administration this year and they are committed to making parents feel more comfortable.
They started a Parent/Teacher Organization (PTO) program this year as well. They hold parent
meetings once a month where they have fun things like food and drawings. Jessie also points
out that they have an amazing staff and student body. The school is devoted to the kids and
the staff believes strongly in them. She also mentioned that regardless of all the negativity in
many of the students lives, at-risk schools, like Snyder, have better academics than non-risk
schools. The students have loving families that want them to succeed, though many of them
are what she called the revolving door kids.
We asked Ms. Kirsch about any multicultural programs Snyder School has. She said that
they have the traditional month celebrations such as MLK month, but that as a whole they
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dont have a specific multicultural program. The school, however, is an empowerment school;
therefore teachers are able to make up their own curriculum as long as they are teaching up to
standards. Even though Snyder School has many immigrant students, they have pretty good
standardized test scores. They do something very different than from many schools in Clark
County. During test weeks, non-English speaking students are taken into separate rooms and
divided into smaller groups to do their tests. They are allotted more time to complete the tests,
and under the ELL 504: IDEA Act, the teachers read the math word problems aloud in English.
Being that the math portion of the standardized test is not testing for literacy, they are allowed
to do this. This has enabled students that are much better at English phonetically to fully show
their math potential. This was amazing! This is shedding light into a multicultural approach to
testing, and the school us unaware.
We asked Ms. Kirsch if she was involved in any of the decision making to determine
which policies come into the school. She informed us of the schools School Improvement
Team (SIP). They meet monthly to vote on issues like school policy, curriculum, and
professional development. Ideas are brought up monthly and then the staff votes on these
ideas. They have instilled a democratic approach which is the best kind.
Observation: Ms. Miners kindergarten class.
We entered the room and all of the students were in separate groups of 2s and 3s
spread throughout the room. They were allowed to pick whatever learning activity they
wanted. Some kids were putting puzzles together, others were reading to each other, and
some were drawing and coloring on paper. One student went up to Genoa and in a very shy
way asked if he could read her a book. It was about a dog and his white shoes. As soon as he
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began to read his shyness melted away into a very happy kid just reading out loud. Everywhere
the dog went his shoes turned a different color depending on whatever the dog stepped in. It is
certain the boy knew how to read because when he would get lost he would point at a word
and start off reading again, but maybe due to his excitement or nervousness he would just
make up his own words to go along with the story. When the story ended he looked up with
the biggest smile, showing all of his teeth, and displayed the most amazing face of self
satisfaction. Genoa praised him for his great job and patted him on his back.
While observing the classroom, we noticed there were no multicultural books available
to the students. Ms. Miner is one of the teachers at Snyder Elementary that has created her
own multicultural curriculum. She informed us that they visit a different culture every month.
For example, last month they visited Ireland. She has laminated poster books that have big
pictures on the front, and different facts about the place on the inside. For Ireland, the front
part of the poster had a picture of a green forest with two kids. Ms. Miner said that she
teaches the students about skin color when they are talking about different places throughout
the world, and that in Ireland people are mostly white. Yet, she thought it was funny when she
showed them a slideshow of people in Ireland, the first person that came up was a black
person. The kids got confused so she told them that that the person is visiting. The kids
asked if there could be black people from Ireland and she said yes, but that the majority of
them were white. To show us what theyve learned she started to ask them questions about
Ireland. The inside of the poster showed a house with grass on the roof, a field with sheep, and
more people dressed in traditional Irish clothes. The kids raised their hands excitedly to answer
questions. Zoltan at this point brought up a good point to the teacher. He asked if these
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posters werent just reinforcing stereotype illusions of different cultures around the world. She
admitted that it could, but she thought it was important for the kids to be exposed to different
cultures none-the-less. At the end she asked about how they were different from one another,
and if that was ok. The students, some of whom have barely learned English that year, shot
their hands up eagerly to answer that it was ok to be different.
Interview: Third grade teacher.
We asked her what her opinion was on the DREAM Act. She responded that she wasnt
aware of it. Like mentioned before, it is understandable for a teacher to not be fully aware of
every act that is proposed in congress, but it was surprising none-the-less to us that she hadnt
the least bit idea of what the DREAM Act was.
We asked her thoughts on standard statewide curriculum. She thinks it is vitally
important. She wished that all across the U.S. there was one type of curriculum, because then
when students move to different schools they are still going to be familiar with the content no
matter where they go. She explained how difficult it is when she gets children that come from
different schools who are not up to par educationally. She has to try to catch them up, and
usually its impossibly hard, and she cant do it.
We asked how she liked the current curriculum at Snyder School. She mentioned that
due to the school being an empowerment school, she has the freedom to incorporate whatever
curriculum she wants. She enjoys this because she has the choice as to what she teaches as
long as it is an up-to-date curriculum.


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Conclusion
Immigration into this country will never cease, especially with our neighboring country
Mexico. It is paramount to have appropriate laws in place to secure a proper relationship with
our fellow neighbors. Children deserve an education and a chance to develop to their fullest
potential no matter where their country of origin. America is seen as a land of opportunity, of
freedom; freedom to make our own choices, freedom to become whatever we want, and
freedom to live however we want. Who are we to not share that dream with others who are
already living among us? Why should we, as Americans, close our doors to the influx of
immigrants that have made our nation great? Weve manipulated wars to our benefit only to
take away from others. We then put up barriers denying outsiders the same privileges we
ourselves have adopted as immigrants to this country (Bigelow, 2006). Furthermore,
immigration laws are indefinite and difficult to understand. More should be done to inform
and communicate to the general American public. Schools should be allowed to teach with a
multicultural approach. Ms. Miner is getting close with exposing cultural differences to children
at a very young age. Maybe statewide curriculum should be more universally well-rounded for
all the U.S., like our third grade teacher says. However, the curriculum should consider a more
multicultural format. Not to just cater to the European mono-cultural population, but to our
unique American population of immigrants from every nation on earth.




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Works Cited
Bigelow, Bill. (2006). The line between us: Teaching about the Border and Mexican immigration.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Rethinking Schools, Ltd.

Clark County School Distric. (2013). TITLE I HOPE: Homeless outreach program for education.
Retrieved from http://www.fhcopenhouse.org/departments/title-i-hope

Deferred action for childhood. (2013). Retrieved 04/24, 2013, from
http://www.dhs.gov/deferred-action-childhood-arrivals
Dream act portal. (2013). Retrieved 04/25, 2013, from http://dreamact.info/
Schwartz, D. (2013). DREAM act immigrants eligible for nevada driver's licenses. Retrieved
04/19, 2013, from http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/nov/29/dream-act-
immigrants-eligible-nevada-drivers-licen/
Serwer, A. (2011). There's no such thing as a state level DREAM act. Retrieved 04/21, 2013,
from http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2011/09/theres-no-such-thing-state-level-
dream-act
Simon, L. A., Trench, T. (1997). Fear and learning at hoover elementary. United States: Josepha
Producciones.
State level DREAM acts. (2012). Retrieved 04/20, 2013, from http://www.visanow.com/state-
level-dream-acts/
Undocumented students in the united states. (2013). Retrieved 04/16, 2013, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undocumented_students_in_the_United_States



Appendix
1. Thank you letters to: Sarah Balch, William E. Snyder, Laura M. Viggato, and Jessica M. Kirsch
2. Title I HOPE pamphlet
3. Hours documented form
4. Weekly report form