Popular Teacher Faces Deportation, Boston Globe, March 2004
Since he began teaching in Boston public schools 10 years ago, Obain Attouoman has become a popular figure, impressing students and colleagues alike with his warmth, facility with languages, and ability to motivate youngsters. But barring a last-minute reprieve, the 42-year-old teacher at Fenway High School will soon be deported to Ivory Coast [...]
The students of Fenway High School are rallying to support their teacher, and have gained support from prominent government officials including Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry. They have managed to delay his deportation, but the DHS refuses to budge, and have ordered him to leave the country tomorrow. Today, the students are asking for our help.
more below the fold...
Obain Attouoman came to the US from the Ivory Coast in 1992, on an exchange visa. He had been arrested and jailed twice in his home country for his political activities, and in 1994, he applied for political asylum. He's been a schoolteacher since he arrived in the US, and today teaches at Fenway High School in Boston, MA.
Attouoman's asylum claim was denied in 2001 and he is scheduled to be deported this Friday. Why? Because a letter informing him of a crucial asylum hearing in 2001 had the hearing date of June 7th handwritten. He misread the handwriting and thought it said July 7th. When he didn't show up on June 7th, his application was denied in absentia, and all appeals since then have failed to reopen the case.
As the Christian Sicence Monitor reports,
Attouoman's case, which includes more than three months spent in detention, has set the student body ablaze. Though an asylum officer said in 2001 that his claim of political persecution was not strong enough for asylum, students have protested fiercely: sending out thousands of postcards and letters, passing out leaflets, meeting with politicians, and painting banners and posters that they've carried across the city on his behalf.
In the process, the halls of Fenway High have turned into a living civics lesson.
Indeed, the Fenway High School web site features two videos of student rallies held in support of Obain, the most recent one held yesterday at Boston City Hall plaza. Listen to the students speaking in the first half of the video - it brought me to tears.
And now, the plea for help, from the students of Fenway High School:
To all people of good conscience,
In less than 36 hours President Bush and the U.S. Immigration Department are going to rip our teacher out of our school. Mr. Obain Attouoman is an amazing man who constantly sacrifices himself to be a great teacher, mentor, and role model to more than 1000 Boston Public School students in the Fenway High, Boston Arts Academy, and Mary Lyons Middle School community.
He came to this country fleeing persecution in the Ivory Coast, and after waiting six years for an asylum hearing, he misread the handwritten court date and showed up on the wrong day. Now, without even getting to go before the judge, he is being deported.
We do not believe that this is how it should be in the United States of America. We believe that someone who has made such a great contribution to society should not be taken away simply to satisfy Washington bureaucracy.
Our public education system needs more teachers like Obain, and we cannot believe that our President would sanction taking a great math teacher from an urban school. There are six students in D.C. petitioning the White House. Please support them! Here is what you can do:
1. CALL PRESIDENT BUSH. Tell him to LEAVE OUR TEACHER IN OUR SCHOOL!
(202) 456-1414
(202) 456-1111
Email: president@whitehouse.gov
2. CALL MICHAEL CHERTOFF, head of Homeland Security. Tell him he's NOT
MAKING OUR COUNTRY SAFER by taking good teachers! (202) 282-8000
(202) 282-8495
Email through web: http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/contactus
3. SIGN OUR ONLINE PETITION to President Bush and Michael Chertoff.
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/donttakeourteacher
Obain has done so much for us -- now it's our turn to help him.
Sincerely,
The Students of Fenway High School
Peggy Kemp, who runs Fenway High School, says she has been waking up in the middle of the night wondering why a figure who is so respected must go - especially in the middle of the school year. "I don't know if people don't understand the importance of a positive experience with a teacher," she says, "or how detrimental it can be to lose that."