LYNN NEARY, Host:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Lynn Neary.
DAVID GREENE, Host:
In Alabama, students, parents, and school officials are reacting to the state's new immigration law, the toughest in the nation. The law went into effect last week after a federal judge upheld many of its most controversial provisions, including a requirement that schools check the immigration status of newly-enrolled students. And that extra layer of administrative responsibility may pale in comparison with the fear some families are experiencing. From member station WBHM in Birmingham, Dan Carsen reports.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD)
DAN CARSEN: Students of all hues converge through the bottleneck of the main hallway at McAdory Middle School in McCalla, Alabama. Most stream right past a reporter with a mic and earphones without missing a beat, but a few, who'd been speaking Spanish, stop talking. It's an uncertain time for many of them. McAdory Principal James McCleod:
JAMES MCCLEOD: We've had a few Hispanic students withdraw today, and some of them tell us that more are going to be withdrawing tomorrow over the immigration laws. The unintended consequences are affecting and disrupting the lives of these students. It's hurtful.
CARSEN: McCleod expects more of the same in coming weeks. Cuban-born Annabelle Frank, a legal resident and mother of a 6-year-old in nearby Mountain Brook, Alabama, sheds some light on why.
ANNABELLE FRANK: I'm actually considering home schooling because I don't want him involved in all this that's going on. I know, because he is Hispanic, in some way he's going to be singled out, you know? I'm really afraid of that.
CARSEN: School officials are troubled by that type of response, and many - even those who don't support the new law - bristle as they try to reassure students and parents.
ESL: all students should continue to come to school. Lari Valtierra is ESL supervisor for Jefferson County Schools. She tells families in English and in Spanish:
LARI VALTIERRA: FOREIGN LANGUAGE SPOKEN
CARSEN: Alabama's 132 districts will report numbers, not names, to the state board of education, which will then report annually to the legislature. Alabama schools had already been checking birth certificates at enrollment, but now the state board of education has to calculate the costs of educating students who don't have them. Several district superintendents and school principals expressed unease with the extra steps. But Interim State Superintendent Larry Craven says.
LARRY CRAVEN: If they just follow that flow chart, they'll get through the process in nothing flat. We're going to have a 100 percent success rate, no big deal.
CARSEN: Craven also thinks the fear engendered by the law is a result of sensationalized news reports and language barriers.
CRAVEN: I don't know where the misinformation is coming from. I guess all variety of perhaps media and perhaps just word of mouth. If you have difficulty understanding the language anyway, then who knows what they're being told.
CARSEN: For NPR News, I'm Dan Carsen in Birmingham, Alabama. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.