NY Times, 28-Jan-1984
By Susan Chira
Weehawken school officials, faced with a state directive to desegregate and with parental opposition to busing, have proposed linking white and Hispanic students by computer and television while letting them stay in their own schools.
But Weehawken's unusual proposal has far from settled the issue. The state still insists that integration in Weehawken must be face to face.
Under the plan's first phase, dubbed ''Kidwitness News,'' children from all three elementary schools in the city have been meeting for two hours every Saturday morning since last fall to tape a mock news program in which they report on each other's cultures. So far, the shows have only been seen in special screenings. Discrediting Ethnic Stereotypes
The second phase calls for setting up computer laboratories in each of the three schools before the end of the school year, so children would be able to write each other messages and share lessons using the computer.
The third phase would allow students to see and talk to one another during this process by installing video equipment in each school. Weehawken officials insist that the proposal is not a ruse to keep students of different cultures separate, but an attempt to solve the underlying problems of ethnic stereotypes that may divide its schoolchildren.
"Busing is not the answer," said Richard E. Onoverole, Weehawken's Superintendent of Schools and the creator of the integration plan. ''This is a plan to bring about positive changes in attitude, if negative ones do exist.''
"The state,'' he added, ''should look forward to the electronic age and the space age we're entering, and this certainly is on the threshold of that age.''
Large numbers of families from Cuba, the Dominican Republic and other Spanish-speaking countries began moving into Weehawken in the late 1960's. Weehawken, a community of 13,000 people and 1.7 square miles at the New Jersey end of the Lincoln Tunnel, found that the state considered two of its three elementary schools to have unbalanced enrollments - either largely Hispanic or largely white. There are only a few black students in the city's schools.
Nida E. Thomas, director of the State Office of Equal Educational Opportunity, who rejected the electronic integration plan last month, has asked the school system to come up with an alternative. The school system, however, has voted to resubmit the old plan to the state.
''Right now, they are really doing an activity, but they have not permanently reassigned kids,'' said Mrs. Thomas. A complete integration plan, she said, would include curricular reform, staff integration and training, community involvement and pupil reassignment. 'They're Going by Rote'
''The state is being robotic about this,'' said Justin Camerlengo, a member of the Weekhawken Board of Education. ''They have rules and they're going by rote. What we're asking for is a little bit of understanding. This is a small town with a small-town ethic. There has never been any kind of friction between Hispanics and others here.''
Weehawken is one of nine New Jersey school districts the state classifies as having ''not completely implemented a successful desegregation plan,'' Mrs. Thomas said. The others are Linden, Trenton, Hillside, Pennsauken, Camden, Elizabeth, Jersey City and Paterson.
In Weehawken's case, Mrs. Thomas said, desegregation is necessary because of an ethnic imbalance at two schools. At the Roosevelt school, 77 percent of the enrollment is Hispanic and 21 percent white. At the Webster school, 58 percent of the students are white and 39 percent Hispanic.
At the third school, Wilson, which the state considers balanced, 55 percent of the students are Hispanic and 43 percent white. Standardized tests given to students at each school indicate that most students' basic skills are far above those required for their grade levels, but the tests do indicate some differences between schools.
Tests administered to sixth- graders at all three schools last April showed that Roosevelt students averaged eighth-grade skills, Wilson students averaged ninth-grade skills, and Webster students averaged nearly tenth-grade skills, said Gloria Hurley, Weehawken's director of guidance. A Report on Castro
Weehawken officials say that ''Kidwitness News'' brings students together more effectively than if they were sitting side by side in a classroom.
Recent shows have included reports on Italian and Spanish Christmas dinners. A recent report was on the 25th anniversary of Fidel Castro's rise to power in Cuba.
''Quiet on the set!'' shouted Ricky Enriquez, the show's current producer and a seventh-grade student at the Roosevelt School.
Students from the Roosevelt, Wilson and Webster Schools fell silent as the cameraman focused his lens and the assistant producer signaled the reporter to begin.
Kim Stewart, a seventh-grader at the Webster School, launched into her introduction of an interview with the mother of a Wilson School student who left Cuba in 1966: ''Recently, Fidel CAY-stro . . .''
''Cut!'' shouted Ricky.
''Did I say it wrong?'' Kim asked. On the second take, she pronounced it ''Cah-stro.'' Many Students Participate
For two hours, the children from different schools conferred on camera angles, practiced taping one another and rehearsed their spots on camera.
Their supervisors - Jon Hammer of the Wilson School and Mr. Camerlengo of the Board of Education - told them to look straight into the camera and keep going, even if they fluffed a minor line.
Working on the Saturday program is voluntary, but Mr. Onoverole said the youngsters were so enthusiastic about the project that he expected more than 1,000 of Weehawken's 1,200 elementary-school students to participate. The students work on their projects at their own schools during the week. The Saturday tapings require them to work together to finish the job, Mr. Hammer said.
''We got to meet people in the Heights,'' said Sylvia Buria, a seventh-grader at the Roosevelt School. She sees the Heights neighborhood, she said, as ''uptown Weehawken, the rich and cultured.'' 'Everybody Is the Same'
''They're just the same,'' said Frederick Durand, another seventh- grader at Roosevelt.
The view from uptown did not differ much. ''Everybody is the same, whether Spanish, Irish, Italian - I don't see why we have to go to a different school because we have a different nationality,'' said Lori Majewski, a seventh-grader at the Webster school.
Most of the students interviewed, like their parents, hated the idea of busing. ''This is a small town - you get to know everybody anyway,'' Paul Sangillo said. ''Why do I have to be bused?'' 'Few Americans in Class'
Other students praised the program but said they did feel there was a difference between the schools.
''I'm Spanish, so is most of the school - there are only a few Americans in class,'' said Irami Fernandez of Roosevelt, using the children's term for those who are not Hispanic. ''If we can get more in class, maybe it would be better.''
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