The School I Deserve

Six Young Refugees and Their Fight for Equality in America

Jo Napolitano

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Hardback

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English

Beacon Press
20 July 2021

Politics & government

Uncovers the key civil rights battle that immigrant children fought alongside the ACLU to ensure equal access to education within a xenophobic nation

Uncovers the key civil rights battle that immigrant children fought alongside the ACLU to ensure equal access to education within a xenophobic nation

Journalist Jo Napolitano delves into the landmark case in which the School District of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was sued for refusing to admit older, non-English speaking refugees and sending them to a high-discipline alternative school. In a legal battle that mirrors that of the Little Rock Nine and Brown v. Board of Education, 6 brave refugee students fought alongside the ACLU and Education Law Center to demand equal access. The School I Deserve illuminates the lack of support immigrant and refugee children face in our public school system and presents a hopeful future where all children can receive an equal education regardless of race, ethnicity, or their country of origin.

One of the students, Khadidja Issa, fled the horrific violence in war-torn Sudan with the hope of a safer life in the United States, where she could enroll in school and eventually become a nurse. Instead, she was turned away by the School District of Lancaster before she was eventually enrolled in one of its alternative schools, a campus run by a for-profit company facing multiple abuse allegations. Napolitano follows Khadidja as she joins the lawsuit as a plaintiff in the Issa v. School District of Lancaster case, a legal battle that took place right before Donald Trump's presidential election, when immigrants and refugees were maligned on a national stage. The fiery week-long showdown between the ACLU and the school district was ultimately decided by a conservative judge who issued a shocking ruling with historic implications. The School I Deserve brings to light this crucial and underreported case, which paved the way to equal access to education for countless immigrants and refugees to come.

By: Jo Napolitano
Imprint: Beacon Press
Country of Publication: United States
Weight: 567g
ISBN: 9780807024980
ISBN 10: 0807024988
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 20 July 2021
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

INTRODUCTION From Colombia to Columbia in Forty Short Years CHAPTER 1 The Longest Goodbyes CHAPTER 2 A New World CHAPTER 3 Beyond the Horses and Buggies CHAPTER 4 The Uninvited CHAPTER 5 Handle with Care CHAPTER 6 Not on My Watch CHAPTER 7 Big Leagues CHAPTER 8 Not in Our Names CHAPTER 9 This Land Is Your Land CHAPTER 10 UnDACAmented CHAPTER 11 Opening Arguments CHAPTER 12 In Their Own Words CHAPTER 13 Caps and Gowns CHAPTER 14 Tough Crowd CHAPTER 15 Disconnected CHAPTER 16 A Missed Opportunity CHAPTER 17 Granted CHAPTER 18 Higher Ground CHAPTER 19 A Room of Her Own Acknowledgments Notes

Jo Napolitano is an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years of experience at the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Newsday. She has written on many topics, but public education remains her primary focus. She first spotted the trend of public schools turning away immigrant children in 2014, when she was a senior reporter for Newsday. Months of research showed the trend was nationwide and won Napolitano a Spencer Education Fellowship to Columbia University to write this book. Connect with her on Twitter @Jo_Napolitano and on Instagram @jonapolitano.

Reviews for The School I Deserve: Six Young Refugees and Their Fight for Equality in America

Napolitano's compelling story of teenage refugees denied the same high school education as their Pennsylvania peers is both heartbreaking and infuriating. It's an intimate story, and yet Napolitano's exhaustive research also underscores the consequences of inequality. This book represents a historical moment as important as Brown v. Board of Education, and every democracy-loving American needs to read it. -Amy Ellis Nutt, author of Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family Jo Napolitano's The School I Deserve-and the legal case it chronicles-is a clarion call for America to live up to its ideals, as a place that embraces those fleeing hunger and persecution. -Alex Kotlowitz, author of An American Summer, winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize