Helen Tyson Middle School
Helen
Tyson Middle School is located in Springdale, Arkansas, and serves approximately
600 students in grades 6 and 7. It is part of Washington County, which ranks
third among the top 10 fastest growing Latino counties
in the U.S. As is the case with several districts across the South, Springdale
school leaders are struggling to adapt to the changes caused by a Latino
student population that grew exponentially in the course of a decade. Specifically,
in 1995, the school's enrollment was 6 percent Latino. In 2006,
that number had increased to 43 percent. The growth is expected to continue
as the local poultry and meat processing industries draw greater numbers
of Mexican immigrants.
The rapid influx of Latino immigrants into Arkansas' Washington and Benton Counties has created a number of challenges for the area schools—chief among these is the task of reaching out and integrating Latino families into the school community. According to The New Latino South and the Challenge to Public Education, a recent report by the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, the dearth of Latino parent outreach programs in Arkansas is not the result of educators being unwilling to reach out. Rather, it results from the fact that Arkansas educators urgently need models of how schools can collaborate with families in emerging immigrant communities.
The leaders at Helen Tyson Middle School have committed themselves to developing a goal-driven outreach program with assistance from the PALMS Tools for Latino Family Outreach. With generous funding from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, PALMS will document the school's efforts and publish our findings in this section of the website. Please stay tuned.
