26980: Hermantin(News)Parents, Haitian leaders tackle issues (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Posted on Sun, Dec. 18, 2005


EDUCATION
Parents, Haitian leaders tackle issues
Haitian leaders and Upper Eastside parents sought to smooth out differences 
after a tense dispute over an elementary school that highlighted neighborhood 
tension.
BY TRENTON DANIEL
tdaniel@herald.com

The floorboard in Kathryn Mikesell's silver Lincoln Navigator was strewn with 
her son's Honey Nut Cheerios and the passenger seat gripped a party favor, but 
Gepsie Metellus didn't seem to mind.

The two were about to break bread at the Upper Eastside's Soyka Restaurant.

''We had a nice luncheon,'' said Metellus, executive director of Little Haiti's 
Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center. ``She was very willing to listen and 
learn.''

The lunch earlier this week -- initiated by Mikesell -- marks something of a 
step toward reconciliation after Upper Eastside parents and Haitian leaders 
clashed over the mission of a neighborhood school off Biscayne Boulevard and 
some upper-middle class parents' calls to have the school district get rid of 
Morningside Elementary's principal, who is Haitian American.

Both sides now say the dispute stemmed from a misunderstanding.

Parents like Mikesell wanted soon to enroll their now school-age children at 
Morningside Elementary -- but not without seeing a dramatic improvement in the 
C-rated public school. Making Morningside a ''school of choice,'' a few parents 
said, meant school officials should consider removing principal Josette Paris.

Haitian leaders, such as Metellus, took offense to the demands, viewing them as 
culturally insensitive and the parents as pushy newcomers plotting to take over 
the school, a claim Upper Eastside parents deny.

The group of Upper Eastside parents, several of them homeowners in the gated 
Morningside community east of Biscayne Boulevard, said they want what any 
parent would want: a top-notch, academically focused school where all students 
could benefit from a multicultural learning environment.

The conflict over Morningside Elementary underscores the tension that surrounds 
South Florida neighborhoods where new homes and condos are changing the 
demographics almost overnight.

And so, Mikesell reached out to Metellus. The two arranged to meet. And what 
transpired was a lunch conversation about Morningside Elementary, parents' 
expectations and cultural attitudes toward education.

Mikesell wanted to know:

''Why hasn't anybody from the Haitian community stepped up to say these schools 
are unacceptable?'' she asked Metellus.

''That's the line you don't cross,'' Metellus told her.

In Haiti, Metellus said, most parents maintain a hands-off approach to their 
children's education. The only time parents hear from school officials is when 
the child is in trouble.

Metellus wanted to know why Mikesell, all of a sudden, was concerned with her 
4-year-old son's education.

''I said, quite honestly, now our kids are of school age,'' Mikesell recounted.

Metellus and Mikesell met to speak at a public forum at the Miami-Dade School 
Board meeting Wednesday after a Miami Herald article highlighted the community 
feud. Ary Moise, an Upper Eastside parent, also spoke about putting children 
first.

Daniel Tosado, associate superintendent for the school improvement zone 
program, approached Metellus and Mikesell about organizing a future meeting.

Morningside Elementary, an international studies magnet school, is one of 39 
low-performing Miami-Dade schools that's part of the district's school 
improvement zone, which means the school has an extended year, smaller classes 
and an emphasis on reading.

Meanwhile, the Miami-Dade school system has set up two meetings to inform 
parents about programs available at Morningside. A meeting for all the parties 
is tentatively set for the second week of January, and an open house is 
scheduled for Jan. 18 at Morningside Elementary.

Said Miami-Dade schools spokesman Joseph Garcia: ``There's been significant 
staff work that's been devoted so that we can be prepared to talk to folks on 
the 18th.''






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