Charter school aimed at Hmong students sets off debate
By Melody Gutierrez/Sacramento Bee
Sacramento City Unified School District Superintendent Jonathan Raymond said Wednesday he strongly supports a proposed charter school that would be geared toward Hmong students. Several school board members, however, are concerned the school is essentially calling for segregation. Proponents of the Yav Pem Suab Academy, who made their pitch at a special school board meeting Tuesday night, said the school will recruit all students, as required by law, and will simply focus on Hmong culture and language instead of the typical foreign languages of Spanish and French. "When we developed this charter, we didn't call it a Hmong charter," said Dennis Mah, president of the Urban Charter School Collective, which wants to open the school. "We will invite everyone." (more...)



