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August 16. 2012 4:15PM
Two members of Manchester civil rights group resign in protest
MANCHESTER — Two members of the state advisory committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights have resigned in protest after heated accusations the group made this week concerning discrimination and cronyism in the school district.
The two members are Nabil Migalli and Eva Castillo-Turgeon, who were the only Manchester residents on the 10-member panel.
“We decided to do this because we could not keep quiet. We worked very hard to build good, respectful relationships in Manchester with people in positions of authority. I don't want to jeopardize that,” said Castillo-Turgeon, who is the coordinator for the New Hampshire Alliance for Immigration and Refugees. She's also a member of the Manchester Police Commission and is on the Governor's Commission on Latino Affairs.
“Sure there are problems,” Castillo-Turgeon added, “but there are ways to bring problems to people's attention in ways to effect change and this was not a positive way to do that.”
On Monday, JerriAnne Boggis, the chair of the civil rights advisory committee, made a presentation to the Board of School Committee that included allegations that there were “serious civil rights violations” against minority students in the Manchester district, that dropout rates for minority students were “appalling,” and that cronyism was in part to blame for a lack of diversity among faculty.
Mayor Ted Gatsas ended up asking the panel to leave over what he and other committee members said were unsubstantiated allegations. The two members who resigned opted to stay in the City Hall chambers, rather than exit with the other members of the group.
Of particular concern were dropout statistics cited by Boggis in the presentation, including the claim that more than 70 percent of Hispanic students do not graduate in the state. This sharply conflicts with state data, which indicated that 73 percent of Hispanic students graduated in 2011.
Migalli, who is the president of the New Hampshire Arab-American Forum, said he never had a chance to review the report before it was presented to the school committee. If he had, he said, he never would have supported it.
“The dropout rate is not the core issue. I don't know why this was injected, to bring conflicted numbers that were not the case,” said Migalli, who has lived in Manchester for 30 years and is on the community advisory board to the Manchester Police Department and serves on the boards of several other organizations.
“A situation like this just hurts the cause,” he added. “Confrontation, calling people names, bringing up questionable information — none of this helps.”
Migalli, who has served on the civil rights advisory committee for three years, said it was important for minority children to have more role models to look to up to. But, he said, “this will be addressed through discussion and face-to-face communication.”
Castillo-Turgeon said she believed there were real problems facing minority students in Manchester, but she said progress was being made. She pointed to the school administration's recent decision to overhaul the English Language Learner program, which had been a focal point of concern for the civil rights group, as well as for a group of local activists.
“It's pretty sad,” she said of the civil rights group's presentation. “Now we have to try to defend something that doesn't have much defense.”
The two members are Nabil Migalli and Eva Castillo-Turgeon, who were the only Manchester residents on the 10-member panel.
“We decided to do this because we could not keep quiet. We worked very hard to build good, respectful relationships in Manchester with people in positions of authority. I don't want to jeopardize that,” said Castillo-Turgeon, who is the coordinator for the New Hampshire Alliance for Immigration and Refugees. She's also a member of the Manchester Police Commission and is on the Governor's Commission on Latino Affairs.
“Sure there are problems,” Castillo-Turgeon added, “but there are ways to bring problems to people's attention in ways to effect change and this was not a positive way to do that.”
On Monday, JerriAnne Boggis, the chair of the civil rights advisory committee, made a presentation to the Board of School Committee that included allegations that there were “serious civil rights violations” against minority students in the Manchester district, that dropout rates for minority students were “appalling,” and that cronyism was in part to blame for a lack of diversity among faculty.
Mayor Ted Gatsas ended up asking the panel to leave over what he and other committee members said were unsubstantiated allegations. The two members who resigned opted to stay in the City Hall chambers, rather than exit with the other members of the group.
Of particular concern were dropout statistics cited by Boggis in the presentation, including the claim that more than 70 percent of Hispanic students do not graduate in the state. This sharply conflicts with state data, which indicated that 73 percent of Hispanic students graduated in 2011.
Migalli, who is the president of the New Hampshire Arab-American Forum, said he never had a chance to review the report before it was presented to the school committee. If he had, he said, he never would have supported it.
“The dropout rate is not the core issue. I don't know why this was injected, to bring conflicted numbers that were not the case,” said Migalli, who has lived in Manchester for 30 years and is on the community advisory board to the Manchester Police Department and serves on the boards of several other organizations.
“A situation like this just hurts the cause,” he added. “Confrontation, calling people names, bringing up questionable information — none of this helps.”
Migalli, who has served on the civil rights advisory committee for three years, said it was important for minority children to have more role models to look to up to. But, he said, “this will be addressed through discussion and face-to-face communication.”
Castillo-Turgeon said she believed there were real problems facing minority students in Manchester, but she said progress was being made. She pointed to the school administration's recent decision to overhaul the English Language Learner program, which had been a focal point of concern for the civil rights group, as well as for a group of local activists.
“It's pretty sad,” she said of the civil rights group's presentation. “Now we have to try to defend something that doesn't have much defense.”