Association of Hispanic Educators launches with Overton meeting Tuesday

Goals include student success, employee support, and sensitivity training

Metro lacks Hispanic principals and assistant principals despite 14% student body representation

First meeting 4pm Tuesday at Overton

Overton High School Small Learning Community Site Coach Gini Pupo-Walker has formed the Association of Hispanic Educators, according to The Tennessean:

There are no Hispanic principals or assistant principals in Metro Nashville Public Schools, where Hispanic students make up 14 percent of the enrollment — with much higher percentages in some schools.
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Gini Pupo-Walker, who oversees Small Learning Communities at Overton High School, recognized the transformation in some schools and formed the association, which meets for the first time at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Overton to hash out membership and other issues.
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"We have many Hispanic professionals in the community that we can draw upon and they can share their expertise," she said. "This is a large student population and we want to help them, make kids successful, and we can do it with one voice."
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The other impetus to forming the association is to help Hispanics who work in the 75,000-student school district, plus provide sensitivity training to the school district's staff.

Two other Hispanic educators mentioned in the story are Ruben DePeña, Metro schools' communities outreach manager, and Overton Spanish teacher Sonia Ruiz. Lillian Machado, a mother involved in Committee of Latino Parents ("COPLA"), is also mentioned.

The full story is at the Tennessean here.

Overton High School has also been mentioned in these previous Hispanic Nashville Notebook stories:

• Advanced Placement exam increase among Tennessee's Hispanic high schoolers (February 2009)
  
• Conexion Americas' clients pay it forward with new parenting program at Overton High (October 2008)
  
• Hispanic graduates of Nashville high schools celebrate against the odds (June 2008)
  
• Overton High conducts seventh annual diversity workshop (November 2003)

For more stories about education in the Hispanic Nashville Notebook, click here.

Photo by Clever Cupcakes. Licensed under Creative Commons.