[LINK] "’50-mile’ rule uproots migrant children in California"

[rfmcdonald]

MacLean's hosts Martha Mendoza's affecting Associated Press report about the disruptive migrations forced on migrant workers and their families in California. (And elsewhere, too, I wonder?)

A lifetime of moving has taught Claudia Morales to start packing early, because like many 13-year-olds, her room “is always a mess.”

The hoodies go in her suitcase, but as usual, all her partially completed schoolwork ends up in the trash. Just a week later, Claudia has new notebooks, along with new textbooks, and three bulging suitcases to start unpacking 200 miles away.

She does this every year. Twice.

This December, thousands of migrant farmworker children are making their annual trek to new schools in California, but they do so also at other times throughout the country. During growing season, their parents rent low-cost housing in federally subsidized labour camps, but state rules mandate that families move at least 50 miles away when the camps close for the winter.

“We have a life we need to live,” she said. “I like both places, but when I grow up I expect to have good work and buy a house where we can stay permanently.”

Claudia gets straight As at one school, somewhat lower grades at her other. But as years pass and coursework gets more complex, the odds rise against her. Eventually, about 90 per cent of kids living in seasonal worker housing drop out of school, according to the San Jose-based non-profit human rights organization Human Agenda.