Chicanos

The trauma and stress over the dismantling of the Mexican American Studies program, including the confiscation of books in front of young middle school and high school students, has never been addressed by Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) officials.

As Tucson's largest school district battles against the state's Ethnic Studies witch hunt at an appeal hearing, a groundswell of students, parents and community members is calling for the resignation of the district's school board president.

As Tucson Unified School District students returned to the classroom yesterday, the towering role of one education innovator is being championed by a broad spectrum of local students, parents, teachers, community members and national scholars.

"Even the state-commissioned audit says La Raza Studies has been successful. They are doing something right and you would think that they would be curious and study it instead of trying to kill it. What this tells me is that they don't care if Mexican Americans learn."