S. Florida schools see number of Venezuelans rising

www.sun-sentinel.com By Lois K. Solomon Education Writer Posted February 10 2003

Venezuelan families, fleeing problems in their country, are enrolling their children in Palm Beach and Broward County schools as they wait for strikes and violence to subside in their homeland.

One of the schools with the biggest Venezuelan surge is 669-student Calusa Elementary in Boca Raton, where 56 Venezuelans have enrolled since Jan. 7. Principal Ann Faraone said her staff has been stunned each day as Venezuelan parents appear in the office.

"It kind of came unexpectedly," Faraone said. "After a few days of it, we looked at each other and said, `Something is going on here.'"

Broward County schools also are seeing an increase in the number of Venezuelans: About 300 have enrolled in the past month, many in Weston and Davie, joining about 600 others who have registered since the school year began.

"It's a remarkable number," said Tania Mena, bilingual coordinator for Broward County schools. "If they bring their papers and fulfill all the requirements, we let them in."

Many Venezuelans fled to South Florida in December after a general strike, organized by opponents of President Hugo Chávez, paralyzed the nation's oil industry and closed most schools and businesses.

The strike, which began Dec. 2, was called by labor and business groups that oppose the Chávez government. They are demanding early elections and Chávez's resignation. Chávez has refused. He insists opponents must wait until August for a referendum, as permitted in the constitution.

Some Venezuelans began to return home last month after some banks, schools, malls and larger companies announced they would reopen. Others, however, have decided to risk uncertain immigration status and stay.

One mother of two, who asked that her name not be used because of immigration issues, decided to stay with her children in their Highland Beach condominium and enroll them in school because the strike closed the shops and schools in their neighborhood.

"We were here for vacation, so we decided to stay," said the woman, 37, a civil engineer whose employer could not pay her because of the strike. "The private clubs with pools and the malls were all closed. I had no work."

She said her children are enjoying Calusa, but the family plans to return to Venezuela next week because schools are scheduled to reopen. Backing for the strike and its leaders has withered, and it may be called off in coming weeks.

Still, experts say the Venezuelan exodus into South Florida likely will not end soon.

"As long as Chávez stays in office, I don't expect a lot to go back," said Jerry Haar, senior research associate at the North-South Center, a think tank on U.S.-Latin American relations at the University of Miami. "They have faith in their country, but they hedge and keep a vacation home because they want to play it safe."

Haar said wealthy Venezuelans gravitate to Palm Beach County, attracted by the many gated, golfcommunities. The Venezuelan students at Calusa live in several upscale condominiums and country club communities, including Broken Sound, Woodfield Country Club and Boca West.

The Venezuelan influx is not totally new to Calusa. The school experiences a small surge of about a dozen students each January, when many South American schools take a lengthy vacation and families with vacation homes enroll their children in school to learn English. As homeowners who pay taxes, their children are eligible for public school.

Even though four times the usual number have enrolled in the past few weeks, Faraone said the school has had few problems absorbing them, although some class sizes have grown considerably.

Although the increase in Venezuelan students is unusual, South Florida schools are accustomed to student influxes from other countries, said Steve Byrne, assistant director for multicultural education for Palm Beach County schools. In the past three years, more than 1,500 new students have come from Colombia, almost 2,000 from Mexico and more than 5,000 from Haiti, he said.

Many of the schools are in neighborhoods that already have a large number of families from a single country, such as Haiti or Brazil, he said. These schools have bilingual specialists to develop the new students with Englishskills and are accustomed to a nonstop influx of students.

Omni Middle School in Boca Raton also has received an unexpected surge, about 35 Venezuelan students since early January, guidance counselor Lowene Torner said.

"This is major for us," she said. "One day, we enrolled 12."

Lois Solomon can be reached at lsolomon@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6536.