SACRAMENTO -- A group of Sacramento parents, educators and business professionals wants to open a charter school that will focus on teaching Hmong children, who have largely fallen through the cracks at regular public schools.
Hmong students in the Sacramento City Unified School District had the lowest scores -- collectively -- of all the district's ethnic groups on the English language arts section of standardized tests last year and the year before.
Studies show Hmong struggle in school districts throughout the nation. The result: A large number of Hmong youths are relegated to a life of gangs, crime or low-paying jobs, said Dennis Mah, president of the Urban Charter School Collective, formed to start the school.
This can be a perplexing problem in a region that is home to 30,000 Hmong.
The Yav Pem Suab Academy would serve kindergartners through sixth-graders. It would focus on teaching methods tailored to helping Hmong students learn but, as a public school, will be open to all students.
"We think we can build a better mousetrap," said Mah, who also is a retired principal.
Students at the academy would attend school year-round, four days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. -- the equivalent of 100 more days than the average school.
The school day would include Hmong language classes and three hours of enrichment -- music, drama, dance, agriculture, quilting or drawing -- as well as state-mandated courses.
The charter proposal must be approved by the Sacramento City Unified school board, which is scheduled to vote on it Jan. 21.
Organizers of the proposed school say the academic struggles of Hmong students often go unnoticed because they are grouped with other Asians in analyses of school test scores; generally, Asians perform exceptionally well on standardized tests.
"At the state level Asians are lumped together and Hmong students don't show up on the radar," said William Vang, who worked as a student achievement specialist with Sacramento City Unified before taking a leave this year.
The Hmong community has rallied around the charter school proposal. More than 300 people showed up for the public hearing on the charter at the Nov. 18 school board meeting, Mah said.
And the state already has given the charter preliminary approval for a $600,000 start-up grant.
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