AUSD hosts post-election forum

“What’s going on next? Are we going back to Mexico?”

Jose Jimenez was caught off-guard by his son’s question the day after the presidential election.

“Well…I’m not from Mexico. I’m from Peru,” Jimenez said.

Jimenez knew exactly what his 6-year-old meant, and the only answer he could he could offer was, “we have to know more about it. We need more information. Don’t worry.”

From watching TV and listening to adults, Jimenez says even kids know a thing or two about politics.

It’s been a week since the presidential election but fear and anxiety continues, even among some elementary school students.

Jimenez is an American citizen, but for many children whose parents don’t have legal status, they fear separation.

“Kids have cried in the school because their concerns are, will my parents be deported?,” Alisal Union School District Superintendent Hector Rico said.

Rico said half a dozen schools in the district reported similar cases, and the district is doing its best to provide comfort and support.

“Diversity is an asset, and because we have the population that we do, we embrace diversity and we need to meet their needs, regardless of where they come from, regardless of the language they speak or their economic situation,” Rico said.

Jimenez’s family isn’t going to move to Mexico and the school doesn’t have answers if other families will have to. For now, they will just have to wait and see what happens.

“Until the new president come to the White House, we want to know what’s going on. Until that… we don’t know,” Jimenez said.

Community leaders and local organizations talked about measures and propositions that will affect the schools, and more importantly, for parents like Jimenez, they wanted to know how to talk to their kids about the election.

The district said they are willing to have more conversations like this one if the students and parents need it.