Scattered challenges, singular solutions: The new Latino Diaspora

It's the first day of school, and Christine eagerly awaits her students. Although she is a veteran kindergarten teacher in the Marshall School District, she has only recently begun to teach students of Mexican heritage. This year, the number of Spanish speakers in her class is at a record high, with about 75% of her students from Spanish-speaking households. When the school doors open, a few bilingual staff members wait along the kindergarten hall to greet families, and parents accompany their children into the classrooms. As parents say good-bye, Christine does not disturb Maite, a young Mexican girl with her head buried in her mother's lap, until morning recess. Then she calls in the guidance counselor and an interpreter and learns Maite's story. Several months earlier, Gloria and her three children arrived from Mexico to join her husband, who was living and working in Marshall. At the border, Maite and her older sister were forcibly separated from their mother and brother for six weeks when the "coyotero" they paid to help them enter the U.S. demanded more money. The family was reunited once these new demands were met, and Gloria and her children finally arrived in Marshall. In light of Maite's resulting separation anxiety and despite a collaborative effort to transition her into kindergarten, a week later all agreed that she would benefit from another year at home. Maite spends her days helping her mother with housekeeping, cooking, and caring for her newborn brother and will return to kindergarten the next fall.