Decade Sees Hispanic Population Double at Glendora Unified

When Luz Lozano’s eyes crossed over a Spanish assignment turned in by a student last week, the Glendora High teacher knew, not suspected, some mischief was in the air. The answer that triggered her attention read, “Water the plants” in Spanish. 

“That’s not in the book at all,” Lozano said. “Anywhere.  (A) Spanish speaker had the same answer to, ‘Water the plants.’ … I talked to the (non-native) student last week and asked him, ‘Where did you get this answer?’  He said it was in the book.  It was not in the book.”

The student in her Spanish class took a short cut with an assignment where they were supposed to list house chores, asking a Hispanic student in class for a quick answer.

Lozano’s experience speaks to the growth in the Hispanic student population over the last decade at Glendora Unified.  Since 2000, the Hispanic and Latino student population has doubled to 35 percent at Glendora Unified, according to numbers from the California Department of Education website. 

When Lozano first came to Glendora Unified eight years ago, a scenario like this would have been unlikely: the Hispanic student population consisted of “three or four immigrant Hispanic students” over an entire day, Lozano said.  Now she has three to four immigrant Hispanic students each class. 

The number of Hispanic students at Glendora Unified is a large enough percentage where Lozano said the district should consider hiring a bilingual adviser sometime in the future after subside.

At Glendora High School, the Hispanic/ Latino population has gone from 17 percent in 2001 to 31 percent last year.  Glendora High could soon implement a "Spanish class for Spanish speakers" due to the number of fluent speakers, Lozano said.

 “Whenever a non-speaker says something that does not come from a book, I know it came from them,” Lozano said.  “Only a Spanish speaker will be able to say this.  It doesn’t make sense that (a non-native) would say this.” 

The growing Hispanic population at Glendora Unified reflects a trend carrying out across California, state enrollment numbers for Hispanic students increasing 7 percent to 50 percent at the K-12 level. Recently relesed on Glendora show a five percent increase in the Hispanic population to 27 percent over the last decade.

Glendora High principal Paul Lopez, who first joined the school in 1983, said he recalls a time when 90 percent of the campus was Caucasian.  Last year the Caucasian population was 55 percent. 

Despite what is known about the achievement gap -- the difference between student performance between gender and ethnic lines—Glendora High’s API score has been steadily increasing.

In 2003-2004, Glendora High’s API was 754.  Last year, the school had an API of 822.

“Demographically, we have changed, but has the climate and the culture of our campus changed?” Lopez asked. “ Not a whole lot.”

Lopez attributes the rise in academic scores to the intense focus from teachers on student test scores. Teachers do not only look at the test scores; they also identity what section and problems of a test students get wrong.  After identifying the problems, they hone in on these sections with the students.

Glendora High also hopes to boost academic numbers in the future by format.    

“There is definitely a(n) (achievement) gap, and we are trying to address that gap, but not from the perspective of race,” Lopez said.  “We are just trying to close the gap in student achievement in general.  Who are the students (struggling) in the classroom? Regardless of whether they are Caucasian, Asian, or Black.”

Rene Morales, a ninth grader, born in Latin America, who came to Glendora Unified as a sixth grader, said  “things were pretty boring (at LAUSD), but over here in Glendora I really like the teachers here, how they teach things.”

“Some of my teachers will give me study guides, they’ll give me notes, we’ll do some projects like in biology we do lab and experiments,” Morales, 14, said.  “I think that is pretty fun.”

The Spanish Club adviser for several years, Lozano said she has heard recently immigrated Hispanic students express difficulty translating cultural norms to their parents. In Latin American countries, sports are not attached to the school system; they are administered in independent leagues, Lozano said.

Also, there are no extracurricular activities in Latin American schools, she said.

“There is always that contradiction (between child and parent) of, ‘No, you’re supposed to be at home; that doesn’t make sense (why you’re at school),’” Lozano said. “The kid has to prove a lot to parents that, yes, they are doing that for the school. They are trapped between two worlds.”

With the growing Hispanic population, Lozano expressed support behind hiring a bilingual adviser.

The adviser – a position she said she has seen at other schools—could act as a liaison between the district and recently immigrated Hispanic parents.  She said she has heard teachers express a need for a go-between who can communicate their thoughts to certain Spanish-only speaking parents. 

“I am sure a lot of it has to do with budget cuts—but I am surprised Glendora does not have one person in the entire district who takes care of that population in general, especially communicating with parents,” Lozano said.   

As a percentage of faculty, 86 percent of the faculty is white, according to the California Department of Education website. Only six of 86 teachers are Hispanic.

In five years as an assistant principal and principal assisting in the hiring process, Lopez said most of the applicants who apply for positions are Caucasian. 

“We don’t care what the person looks like, whether they are Hispanic or whatever,” Lopez said. “We are hiring the best candidate to teach our kids.” 

Lopez said the sole goal at Glendora High is to ensure a high level of education that allows student to succeed after they graduate. 

“We teach who comes through our doors,” Lopez said.  “We look at each of our kids as being equal.”