Today's paper contains a brief rundown of a meeting of minds: 7th and 8th graders from the Santa Fe Girls' School, who have spent the last few weeks studying the US Constitution and the history of New Mexico's statehood, and Santa Fe Mayor David Coss. But SFR had to jet before the discussion got really good, so we called the Girls' School development director, Cullen Curtiss, for an update. Read it after the jump.After a 30-minute, sometimes-rambling lecture from Coss, the 20-odd students jumped in with questions Curtiss says "were very specific, about line items within the resolution [in an effort] to understand them better." That resolution is the 1999-6, a resolution stating that the City of Santa Fe would not discriminate on the basis of immigration status.
"One girl wanted to know, if a child came home to find her mother/father/brother apprehended, what would that mean for the child?" Curtiss continues. "They had questions about what would happen if the immigration population in Santa Fe weren't here, and Mayor Coss was very straightforward [in saying] he thought the economy would fall apart."
Curtiss echoed what history teacher and co-founder of the school Lee Lewin told SFR earlier: That the passage of Arizona's new immigration law spurred heated discussion among students.
"This is part of a discussion that happens every year, about the creation of the [US-Mexico] border," Curtiss says. "All teachers try to make associations and applications to current issues to broaden students' understanding." This year, though, Curtiss says students had more questions than usual, in part because Arizona is close to home.
Photo courtesy Cullen Curtiss.
