Emerging politicians from Serbia, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Poland converged at Local Roots Café on Grandin Road earlier this week for a discussion about education, as part of a whirlwind tour of the Commonwealth.
The six European leaders were Ms. Lamis Khalilova, Head of Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Metropolitan University Prague, Czech Republic; Mr. Alessandro Gonzales, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Italy; Ms. Vesna Marjanoviê, Member of Parliament, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia; Ms. Bilkay Öney, Member of Parliament, Germany; Mr. Maciej Ptaszynski, Advisor to the Speaker of the Polish Parliament; Mr. Caspar Van Den Berg, Assistant Professor, Leiden University, The Netherlands.
On this occasion, the European delegation, with former Roanoke mayor Nelson Harris as facilitator, met with David Carson, an attorney and chairman of the Roanoke City School Board. Roanoke City Public Schools has an overall enrollment of about 13,000 students and is one of the most diverse student populations in the state.
That diversity was quickly and understandably the focal point of the conversation, as Carson ably demonstrated how local schools must work through federal and state funding requirements, such as the No Child Left Behind Act enacted during former President Bush’s first term, while meeting the needs of the children of a growing immigrant population.
Roanoke, according to Carson, is an immigration focal point for much of Southwest Virginia, because it is an urban center with the social services network that immigrants need to succeed. In turn, however, this places extraordinary demands upon the schools. Carson used the example of an African immigrant who does not speak English.
“Within one year he is expected to take the (SOL) test and pass it,” said Carson, while noting that at Virginia Heights Elementary alone there were eight different African “dialects” that staff had to recognize.
Carson is not a big fan of the funding loss that can occur if a school fails to meet SOL standards over a period of time.
“It’s reasonable to have certain expectations,” said Carson, who added that it is difficult for standardized testing to measure the overall progress of schools, given the challenges many face.
German Parliament Member Bilkay Öney noted similar issues in Germany. While many European countries do not have standardized testing, as Maciej Ptaszynski, Advisor to the Speaker of the Polish Parliament, pointed out, they do have similar challenges in assimilating immigrant populations.
The discussion also addressed how such challenges are amplified during tough economic times such as these, particularly when enrollment is down, as it is in Roanoke City, which recently had to close two elementary schools.
“We’re down 1,000 students,” noted Carson.
Lamis Khalilova from the Czech Republic said that this is much the same as in her country. “If enough students do not enroll, the school shuts down.”
The six European leaders are participants in the German Marshall Fund of the United States’ (GMF) Marshall Memorial Fellowship (MMF) program. In its 27th year, the MMF provides opportunities for young leaders from the United States and Europe to travel abroad to learn about current economic, political, and social issues facing both the United States and Europe.
European fellows visit various U.S. cities to meet formally and informally with policymakers and prominent members of the business, government, political, nongovernmental, and media communities. Other stops in Roanoke included a discussion on politics at the home of Nelson Harris and a hike to McAfee’s Knob along the Appalachian Trail.
