Students plan to join Latino day of protest

Despite school official's pleas that they make their point at some other time, local Latino students are pressing forward with plans to rally in Glenwood Springs in lieu of going to their classes.

Some Glenwood Springs High School students plan to join in a national protest scheduled for that day in which Latinos stay home from work and school and don't spend their money. Students plan to attend a rally at Sayre Park in Glenwood instead.

"From what I hear, a lot of people are wanting to participate in it," said Omar Diaz, a GSHS sophomore.

Principal Paul Freeman hopes that's not the case.

"My message is simple - stay in school," Freeman said.

Students in other local schools also may join in Monday's action.

Freeman said he's happy to see students being politically active. But he and other Roaring Fork School District Re-1 officials would prefer such activities not cost them class time.

Freeman's message to students: "There's an education there for you, you need it, you can't afford to lose an hour of it."

Diaz and other students, including senior Veronica De La Torre, plan to miss the whole day as part of an effort to show how their loss would impact the workplace, the economy and America as a whole. It's a response to calls for a national crackdown on illegal immigration.

De La Torre said if Latinos no longer attended Glenwood Springs High School, it could result in job losses for some teachers and bus drivers.

"Every little thing you don't even think about is affected," she said.

Freeman said students have been upfront about their plans, and don't want to be disruptive. He understands the point they are trying to make and the difficult decision they face about whether to join in missing school Monday.

"People have to make up their own minds in their own families, according to their own conscience," he said. "I'm saying 'Go to school.'"

He said absences will be unexcused unless students have parental permission.

Re-1 principals are sending home letters in English and Spanish this week encouraging parents to send their children to school Monday or personally supervise them if they stay at home.

"We believe that students will be much safer in school than participating in a boycott or walkout," assistant superintendent Judy Haptonstall said in a news release Monday. "Because we cannot deny a student's right to leave the school, we are encouraging parents to talk with their children about the wisdom of participating in the events on May 1."

Parents of any absent students who didn't notify the district of their absence in advance will be called by the district on Monday. District officials also are working with police in each community to try to ensure the safety of students.

Freeman said he worries that some students will see Monday as a simple opportunity to skip school. But Diaz said the students' motives are genuine, and De La Torre said students don't want their actions to be perceived negatively.

"We really believe in what we're doing, and we want to do it right," she said.

De La Torre and Diaz also both plan to stay home Monday from their jobs. De La Torre works at Heritage Park Care Center in Carbondale and Diaz at Taco Bell in Glenwood Springs. Whether many adult Latinos will join in Monday's protest remains in question. Except at the student level, the local Latino population has remained fairly quiet in recent weeks, despite widespread pro-immigrant protests elsewhere.

"I think it's an indication of how disorganized the community is here and what a short history it has here," said Tom Ziemann, director of Catholic Charities, an agency that helps serve that community.

The political disorganization of local Latinos may reflect the number of them that are here illegally, and the fact that Latinos aren't a homogenous group. Rather, said Ziemann, they come from many different Latin American countries, and even those from Mexico identify themselves based on what state they came from there.

"When we refer to the Latino community, well, there is no such thing. There's a collection of people, they speak the same language, but there's no sense of community," he said.

Latino communities in big cities have existed for many decades, giving them more time to attend church events and other activities, fraternize, and organize politically, Ziemann said.

As Latinos weigh whether to stay home Monday, a group of Anglos is planning to meet that same day in support of their cause. The Valley Pax Christi group is planning to gather at 12:15 p.m. Monday at Sopris Park in Carbondale in support of Latino immigrants.

"Their point of that day is to stay out of sight. They're doing that and so we said we would stand in solidarity with them," said Father Tom McCormick, a group member and pastor of the Catholic churches in Carbondale and Basalt.

McCormick, who has lived in Mexico and Colombia, said the group supports legalizing rather than criminalizing immigrants.

"Let's recognize the fact that we brought them over here in the first place by either double-talk out of both sides of our mouth or not doing anything for so many years," he said.

He said the United States should acknowledge its own history of relying on immigrant help, such as the Chinese who helped build the railroads and the Mexicans who have picked crops.