By Megan Decker
Staff Writer
VASSAR — Chuck Fabbro, Wolverine Alternative Education principal, addressed the Vassar School Board on Monday regarding the Central American refugee children who may be housed in Vassar in coming weeks.
After hearing so many opinions and rumors, Fabbro, who works with Vassar Public Schools, told school board members as well as the audience that he visited Hope Academy of West Michigan, which educates similar students from Central America, last week in order to find out what the children “look like,” he said.
“I’ve been hearing so many things that I just wanted to see first hand what these children look like,” Fabbro said. “They look like kids. They were kids. They were even smaller than the kids I typically deal with,” Fabbro said.
During his time at Hope Academy, Fabbro visited some classrooms and spoke with an administrator. He also looked in on an algebra and world history class.
“I wanted to know what we may experience,” Fabbro said. “What I saw was just a normal school.”
Fabbro said that he asked the administrator from Hope Academy about diseases. He was told that they haven’t had any experience with diseases.
He was also told that the children and teens have varying levels of education, similar to the American teens already being taught at Wolverine, he added.
Fabbro’s findings were not part of the agenda for the Vassar Board of Education meeting on Monday. He shared his experience during the “administrative comments” portion of the meeting.
“I wanted to inform the people in my community,” Fabbro said. “I’m not a politician; I’m an educator.”