Schools
Chatham Schools Are Getting More Diverse
Superintendent Michael LaSusa said more than 100 immigrant students representing 30 different countries are enrolled.
CHATHAM, NJ - The School District of the Chathams is becoming more diverse, with 32 home languages other than English represented in the student population, according to Superintendent Michael LaSusa.
"We count over 100 immigrant students, representing 30 different countries, in our schools. China is the most common non-US place of birth and Chinese is our largest non English language," LaSusa said. "Of course, our student body is representative of numerous religious or faith traditions, a range of sexual orientations and identifications, a mix of socio-economic backgrounds, and a multitude of other qualities."
LaSusa noted the languages spoken are:
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- Arabic
- Bengali
- Bosnian
- Chinese
- Czech
- Danish
- Dutch
- Finnish
- French
- German
- Greek
- Guarani
- Gujarati
- Hindi
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Marathi
- Norwegian
- Persian
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Romanian
- Russian
- Slovak
- Spanish
- Swedish
- Tamil
- Tagalog
- Turkish
- Ukrainian
- Urdu
LaSusa noted in terms of ethnicity, “White” is the largest ethnic population, followed by
“Asian.” LaSusa also noted the ethnic categories are established by the state of New Jersey and form part of the reporting process to the state.
"In this school district, we care for and educate all students. This includes, but is not limited to, students representing all of the languages named above, all of the ethnicities recognized by
the state of New Jersey, all sexual orientations and identifications, all cognitive, academic, or other abilities, all socioeconomic strati, all immigrant and residency statuses (documented and undocumented) and any other kind of student we are proud to call a Chatham student," LaSusa said in a report. "They and we are all Chatham."
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