JANUARY 2022

chaldean DIGEST
What others are saying about Chaldeans
FOX 5 SAN DIEGO
At stake: a lucrative allotment of state money for each student
In 2008, Hazel Park Schools worked
with a nonprofit to create an alternative
education program and had it
approved by the Michigan Department
of Education. The program was
designed to attract families who did
not speak English as a first language
— specifically, Chaldean families
who were hesitant to enroll in the
traditional public school system.
The program has triggered a 10-
year legal tug-of-war between Hazel
Park Schools and Warren Consolidated
Schools over who has the
rights to the taxpayer dollars that are
designated for each child who resides
within a school district’s boundaries.
Protestors hold signs of support for the Chaldean community in East County, El Cajon, California.
Each public school student was
worth $9,336 to Warren Consolidated
Schools in 2020-21, something
for which the Macomb County
school district is willing to go to
court over.
That $9,336 is called the “foundation
allowance,” and it’s the one
bucket of money that follows students
to whatever school district
they enroll in.
In 2011, Warren Consolidated
Schools sued Hazel Park Schools,
seeking monetary damages. Warren
Consolidated Schools asserted that
Hazel Park Schools lured students
to the program “without obtaining
plaintiff’s permission … thereby
wrongfully depriving plaintiff of students
within its own district.”
The two school districts have
been involved in a legal battle since.
The fight has included three separate
lawsuits filed in circuit court and filings
with an administrative office at
the Michigan Department of Education.
In each instance, the decisions
have gone in favor of the Hazel Park
Schools.
The court of appeals was the most
recent to rule on the matter, and it
sent the case back to the circuit court
to be heard.
– Tom Gantert
Chaldean community in El Cajon speaks out against redistricting
“Our community is under threat
again. This time, it’s right here in the
United States,” said Vince Kattoula,
a Chaldean activist, at the Keep East
County United rally and press conference
on Tuesday.
Chaldean Americans have found
a home in and around El Cajon for
over 50 years — but what has been
built over this half century by generations
of people is now on the line, as
county redistricting is putting their
unified voice at risk of being fractured.
The event, held at El Cajon’s
Centennial Plaza, was a rapid response
to the Independent Redistricting
Committee (IRC) releasing
their proposed maps for Supervisorial
districts, which are scheduled to be
finalized on December 14. Groups of
people like Chaldeans are supposed
to be kept together in county districts,
designated as “communities of
interest” since they are not formally
counted by the Census Bureau. Yet
the newly proposed maps currently
split large chunks of this community
away from each other.
“We believe this is a politically
motivated map, to diminish our
voice as an ethnic minority,” said Dr.
Noori Barka, President of the Chaldean
Community Council. “We ask
for a fair map,” he continued.
Afaf Konja, the spokesperson for
the rally, noted how El Cajon would
potentially share a district with
neighborhoods who do not necessarily
share their values or lifestyle.
“It doesn’t make any sense culturally,
it doesn’t make any sense businesswise,
it doesn’t make any sense politically,”
she said. “Other than to
dilute a vote and to silence a people.”
Those who spoke also included
the Cajon Valley school board president,
a Chaldean Bishop, El Cajon
community activists, and Bill Wells,
the Mayor of El Cajon.
“They’re trying to destroy this
area’s ability to govern themselves,”
said Wells. “What is happening with
the redistricting committee is pure
and simple identity politics. And I’m
here to tell you something, and the
IRC should know this: it is against
the law to make decisions on redistricting
based upon political will.”
– Elijah McKee,
East County Magazine
A message of trust and hope for the
future comes from the Chaldean Church.
Baghdad auxiliary
bishop on youth
meeting and a
‘living Church’
Auxiliary Bishop Basel Yaldo of
Baghdad, a close aide to Chaldean
Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako, presented
the meeting of young Chaldeans
in Iraq in late November.
The event was designed to provide
hope to young Iraqis who are
part of a “living Church”, as Pope
Francis underlined last March during
his historic trip to the Arab country.
The gathering is special because
it comes at a difficult political, social,
and economic moment, but Church
institutions are tasked with showing
a path for the future.
“At this complicated time, we
want young people to be able to
find a point of reference, a place for
discussion and a way forward,” explained
the prelate.
For the first time in the history
of the Chaldean Church, more than
450 young men and women, aged 18
to 35, gathered in Baghdad and represented
seven dioceses: from Basra
in the south to Zakho in Iraqi Kurdistan,
as well as Kirkuk, Alqosh, Mosul
and Nineveh Plains.
Testimonies about life in the various
dioceses were on the agenda, as were
indications on how to proclaim the
Gospel, alternating with moments of
leisure, games, and group competitions.
Young people themselves asserted
the urgency of a meeting, Bishop Yaldo
explained, because they need to “come
back to life,” to feel like a community
again “after the darkness of the CO-
VID-19 pandemic, which stopped activities
for almost two years.”
Adds Bishop Yaldo, “More will
come in the future since a meeting
is in the works for young Chaldeans
from all over the world, from America
to Australia.”
– Asia News
ASIA NEWS
10 CHALDEAN NEWS JANUARY 2022