Cleveland partner José Feliciano was quoted in a June 24, 2009, Cleveland Plain Dealer article, "Hispanics Make Up Majorities at 7 Cleveland Public Schools, Prompting Call for Special Help."
According to the article, Cleveland's near West Side is a school system within a school system. It's dominated by a Hispanic community whose presence is growing almost by default as Cleveland's population shrinks. The most recent figures for a cluster of seven West Side schools show that Latinos account for 45 to 78 percent of the enrollment in each building, according to the article.
Leaders of the Hispanic Roundtable, a regional organization devoted to education and other concerns, of which Feliciano is the founder and current Chairman, say the numbers call out for special help from the district's Chief Executive Officer Eugene Sanders. The Roundtable has asked Sanders to appoint a Latino to the open principal's job at Lincoln-West High School. The group also wants the district to reduce a high Hispanic dropout rate, expand bilingual instruction and place some of its new specialty schools in or near Latino neighborhoods.
"Frankly, I think the school district needs to be challenged," said Feliciano. "They need to focus a lot more attention on our issues."