Students, residents reach out to the KCSD school board after Gov. Corbett’s cuts endanger beloved counselor
By P.J. D’Annunzio, Staff Writer, KennettTimes.com
KENNETT SQUARE — It didn’t take long to see the impact Loretta Perna has had on folks in the Kennett Consolidated School District — but a new generation of students may have to miss out, thanks to budget cuts by Gov. Tom Corbett.
The KCSD Board of Education met Monday at the district office to a packed house — on a night that normally would be fairly quiet. A small meeting room was filled with people pleading for a way to keep her on the job.
Once the initial business was settled the floor was opened for comment. From there, one speaker after another told of how Perna had made a difference for their lives, helped them to stretch beyond what they had hoped.
“I arrived in this country six years ago,” said Sarahi Zamores, who graduated from Kennett High on Friday, “I didn’t know English…everything was new. You’re expected to be successful and do well, but for me it wasn’t like that. It was really hard to learn a new language and new culture. I never felt like a part of the community.”
Enter Perna, a Kennett High School guidance counselor and a beloved figure among the local Hispanic population. Thanks to proposed cuts by Gov. Tom Corbett, the grant program that paid Perna’s salary is slated to disappear — and the impact of that could hurt dozens of students each year.
“I was a freshman when I met Ms. Perna,” Zamores said, “During my sophomore year she told me about the ‘WIN’ program and she said it was designed for Latino students who were capable of doing well in school but weren’t.”
The program, developed by Perna, focuses on strengthening Hispanic students academically with the ultimate goal of attending a four-year college or university. Perna herself helps the students study and complete homework assignments. She also helps them and their families with the college application process.
“I was not interested in going to college; I never thought that someone like me could go to college, I didn’t have the grades or the money, my friends don’t speak English and know nothing about it…but Ms. Perna told me that if I really wanted to do it I could do it,” Zamores said.
Perna’s WIN, or “Walk-in Knowledge” program, has a two-fold goal: while students are encouraged to do well academically, they are also taught the value of giving back to society. Perna supervises trips to paint over graffiti and pick up trash not only to beautify the community but also to foster a sense of responsibility for the students’ own surroundings.
“That’s when I really felt like part of the community,” Zamores said, referring to her own service.
The WIN program draws its funding from the 21st Century educational grant, but due to the educational budget cuts imposed by PA Gov. Corbett, the grant is no longer available to sustain the program. Perna, Kennett High’s only Spanish-speaking counselor, is not a direct employee of Kennett Consolidated School District and may be faced with acquiring an alternate position (one that would potentially have her counseling the entire student body rather than solely Hispanic students) within Kennett High or leaving the district altogether.
The next speaker to the podium was Cesar Mendez, another 2011 Kennett graduate.
“I came to United States about three years ago. When I was in Mexico I wasn’t studying because my family couldn’t afford high school,” Mendez said.
This alludes to Mexico’s educational policies, where school attendance is only mandatory until sixth grade and families must pay for a high school education.
Mendez went on to recount his own difficulties with adapting to his new home. But he, like so many others in the room, found a mentor and friend in Perna, and was able to overcome his humble circumstances and achieve.
“I feel like if it wasn’t for her [Perna] I wouldn’t be attending Penn State next fall. I’d be working in Mexico, agriculturally,” he concluded, “If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t have done a lot of community service…if we lose Ms. Perna, we’ll be losing a lot.”
The outpouring of support continued as Vice President of Exelon Energy David Ellsworth, Kennett Borough Councilwoman Jessie Cocks, Lutheran Minister J. Patrick Seyler, and two current Exelon employees and former WIN students, analysts Jose Guerrero and Jose Ayllon all spoke words of praise for Perna to the KCSD board.
“I don’t know Loretta,” Cocks said, “but I know a lot about what she has done for this community and its students…we have a treasure here in Kennett with these students and we need to collectively as a community find a way to get creative and find a way to keep some one as talented and important to the students in this community as Loretta Perna.”
Following Cocks, Seyler spoke on the difficulty that Hispanic students face, internally, when attempting to seek higher education.
“I know that many students are discouraged to go to college because they are Hispanic; I have heard many stories of teachers discouraging students, especially female students, to go to college. This is something that is real. We need to be aware of that,” he said
He went on to detail the nature of his own vocation as his “calling.” He related his own drive to that of Perna’s.
“For Ms. Perna this is a vocation, and as teachers I hope and suppose that you understand what that means. Losing her would be a great blow to the community,” Seyler said.
From minister to businessman, the floor was given to Exelon VP David Ellsworth.
“While I am by no means an expert on matters pertaining to school funding and the fine school board or the duties of them, I understand and respect the stresses of effective fiscal management and empathize with the difficult choices you have to make…I’m respectfully requesting that this board do what it can to prioritize the dollars necessary to fund the incredible efforts of Ms. Loretta Perna,” Ellsworth said.
“I was stunned to learn that in the year 2000 only two students from Mexico had ever graduated from Kennett High and gone to college,” he continued, “today that number is over one hundred, and thirty-eight Latino students currently have plans to attend college in the fall. This is because of Loretta Perna…look at the faces in this room and listen to the stories you hear tonight and help us preserve the hope of their future by funding Loretta Perna”
After Ellsworth introduced Allyon and Guerrero, Marywood University and Bucknell University graduates respectively, they gave testament to their own successes due to Perna’s guidance, and how they have returned to live and work in the community.
The board then responded.
“I can’t even begin to agree with you any more with all of the fabulous things you’ve all said about Loretta,” said board president Heather Schaen, “she is an amazing asset to our district.”
“I understand that Loretta helps out the Latino population greatly, and helping students navigate through higher education and acclimating,” board member Dominic Perigo said, “but I as a school board member have to think about what’s best for the entire district and I believe that there are other segments of our population that could use Loretta as well.”
The board is expected to make a decision regarding funding and Loretta Perna’s position by the end of June.
I feel very sad that Mrs. Loretta Perna is out from Kennett High School. Since I know her, she always has been an angel for all Latino youth at KHS. She must return to her position in order to avoid a negative impact in Kennett Community, furthermore in Chester County Community. She is a special person, that only be in Earth just for serving her community and youth.