Saturday, November 20, 2010

LULAC mentoring has Farmers Branch mayor, principal at odds | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

LULAC mentoring has Farmers Branch mayor, principal at odds | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

LULAC mentoring has Farmers Branch mayor, principal at odds

08:15 AM CST on Saturday, November 20, 2010

By AVI SELK / The Dallas Morning News
aselk@dallasnews.com

A student mentoring program has kicked off a furor in Farmers Branch, once again pitting some city leaders against the League of United Latin American Citizens.

The principal was thrilled this year when LULAC picked R.L. Turner High School for a two-year, $20,000 national grant-funded dropout prevention program. Similarly to others it runs in schools across the country, the Hispanic advocacy group brings in community role models to steer at-risk students toward graduation and college.

LULAC mentoring has raised barely a murmur outside the hallways of other North Texas schools. But in Farmers Branch, where the group