The learning season

COBDEN, Ill. -- At first glance the classrooms look like most other preschools across America. Pictures of bright-faced children are tacked on the wall alongside crayon drawings and posters. A dizzying whirl of singing, laughing and teasing moves about the room at knee level. Typical preschool stuff.

Other things are less typical. Labels on items are in English and Spanish. In the corner of the room Mexican and American flags hang side by side. And the bubble of conversation coming from the children is Spanish peppered with English words and phrases.

The most important difference is not visible: Come wintertime, these faces will all be gone. Many of the children here will be whisked away with their families to urban areas of Illinois, Michigan, Texas or back to native Mexico.

These preschoolers are all children of migrant workers, and the federally funded Head Start program in Cobden is one of 41 nationwide charged with instructing and caring for the young children of seasonal laborers. The children are supposed to get the tools to succeed, but after Head Start, elementary school and high school can prove difficult for them. The National Commission on Education Statistics has shown dropout rates as high as 44 percent among the children of migrants.

But supporters say the program is a good one.

"It would be impossible for most of the migrants to work without this program. They can't afford day care, so for them to go out and work in the fields or packing plants, they need to know their children are taken care of," said Alma Gomez of Head Start, who works with parents on everything from literacy to social services.

Cobden's Head Start program is funded to care for 84 children. It is on Old Highway 51 in the heart of rolling farmland best known for its peaches but which also grows apples, strawberries, squash and other produce. The program's site is just past rows of cinderblock bungalow dwellings where as many as 200 workers and their families live free of charge during the picking season.

Open from May to November, Head Start accepts children between the ages of 6 weeks and 5 years old. The children are given nutritious meals, regular health checkups and immunizations as needed. They are also given, their teachers say, the tools they will need to live in a bilingual world.

"I think this is a special place. It's much harder to learn two languages at once than to learn just one. The goal is that these kids will someday be bilingual. And to do that, they need help; it doesn't just happen on its own," said teacher Gloria Radek, who was born in Peru but has lived in the United States for 39 years.

"Pelo rojo," said Gerardo, an outgoing, mischievous-eyed 5-year-old who was trying hard to grasp the hair of an adult. The words mean "red hair." But seeing the person did not speak Spanish, Gerardo tried harder to make himself understood.

"Apple head," he said, putting emphasis on two words he knew.

But in other ways the children seem to feel comfortable moving back and forth between two worlds.

Asked to sing their favorite song, the children launch into "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider," complete with hand gestures to show how the spider makes it up the waterspout. When asked what they want to sing next, the class breaks into "La Pinata," a Mexican song.

Radek, who teaches a class of 4-year-olds in one of the seven classrooms in the program, said sparking creativity and making her students feel comfortable in two languages is her biggest goal. Each of the classrooms has at least one bilingual teacher.

"You see this? This is excellent," Radek said as she displayed a student's drawing of a sunflower. "We want them to learn how to create things. Everybody will draw it differently, and we try to encourage that so they're not molded to do it this way or that way."

At Head Start, progress is closely monitored. All children are given a test twice a year to determine their literacy, mathematical and social skill levels. If progress lags, funding could be withheld and the program shut down.

The Head Start program is federally funded, but the money is allocated by the Illinois Department of Human Services in Springfield. This year the Cobden program received $600,000. Nationwide, Migrant Head Start and American Indian Head Start programs were funded to the tune of $469 million, or approximately $7,287 per child enrolled.

Missouri has two Migrant Head Start programs, in Lexington and Mount Vernon. Illinois has nine statewide.

'Already gotten too far'

Few quibble with money spent on children, but some say the uncomfortable truth is that many of those served are here illegally.

"Of course it's always good to educate children, but what happens when you're dealing with a finite resource?" said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform in Washington, D.C. "Our position is that there is not enough funding to give Head Start to all kids who need it. So we believe that certainly reasonable to look at how that money is allocated. ... The real problem is the policies in place reward people for breaking the law and coming here and do not penalize employers for hiring them. Once you're dealing with the problem at the schoolhouse door, it has already gotten too far."

And Cobden is not immune to the tension of being home to such a large immigrant community.

"I hear it all the time, people saying that this program shouldn't exist because it's rewarding people who came here illegally. But a lot of these kids were born in this country and they're going to stay in this country, but they don't understand that," said Gomez, who has lived in Cobden for 20 years. "... The teachers work even harder on English with the kids entering kindergarten, just to give them the best chance of succeeding in the Cobden school district."

But many Hispanics say they are upset the positive atmosphere of Head Start is not replicated in the Cobden schools. Parents of students in the school district are considering a lawsuit if the district does not hire more bilingual certified teachers.

The families and their legal representation believe that the school has accepted funding from the State Transitional Bilingual Education program but has not followed through on offering all of the appropriate services. "If they are going to take money from the state, then they need to implement the program fully and appropriately; if not, then they shouldn't take the money," said Miguel Keberlein, a staff attorney at the Illinois Migrant Legal Assistant Project.

The Cobden School District is currently about 25 percent Hispanic. The district employs a certified bilingual teacher in the grade school and ESL teachers in the grade school, junior high and high school. Keberlein said his clients believe this satisfies the "bare minimum," but not the "spirit," of the program, which he said is meant to allow non-native speakers to take classes in their native language.

Cobden Elementary principal Terri Woodworth said the district is working with the parents, will continue to follow the law and hopes the two sides can make strides to come closer together.

The Cobden district, from grades kindergarten through 12, has 625 students. According to a graduating senior, three Hispanic students graduated in 2005 and five graduated in 2006. Woodworth could not confirm that.

Goreti Thomas, who went through the Migrant Head Start Program as a child and graduated from Cobden High this year, said the transition can be tough.

"All of a sudden everything is different. I remember having a lot of trouble understanding teachers when I was young," she said. "I eventually learned English, but a lot of other people, they get frustrated and they drop out, or their families move away."

tgreaney@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245