District Mistakenly Sells Texts Mexico Donated

When a Mexican government official presented his country’s textbooks to Santa Ana earlier this year, parents and officials in the predominantly Latino school district received them gratefully.

The books are considered a birthright and symbol of national pride by the Mexican government, which bans their sale and guarantees one for every child. So some immigrant parents were stunned to find these same textbooks being sold at a book fair at Villa Intermediate School in May.

“What really bothers me is that these books were donated so they could be used, not sold,” said parent Venancio Chavez, who bought three texts for 50 cents each.

Santa Ana Unified School District Supt. Al Mijares said it was all a big mistake, an error by an employee who didn’t realize the value of the books and their cultural and political significance. He said the district prizes 15,000 other copies of the same textbook that were donated last spring by Miguel Angel Isidro, the Mexican consul in Santa Ana.

To soothe any hurt feelings, Mijares said, he has apologized profusely and assured Mexican consular and other officials that it won’t happen again.

“Does this mean that we are involved in a reckless handling of books? No way,” Mijares said. “The moment I discovered this, I called Miguel Angel. I wanted him to know that I was very disturbed about this. It appears to me that a staff member made a mistake. That’s it.”

The Spanish-language textbooks donated by the consulate come in sets of 50 and are intended for first through sixth grades. They are used in every elementary school in Mexico and are a point of great pride.

Customs and Languages

The first-grade social studies book talks about different languages spoken in Mexico, such as Nahuatl, Mayan and Zapotec, and asks, “What languages are spoken where you live?”

Another section describes how the national coat of arms depicts the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, tells of customs such as the Day of the Dead celebration and includes the words of the Mexican national anthem. Stories in the book include “Robinson Crusoe” as well as “Fat Cucaracha.”

Mexican consulates began distributing the textbooks to various California school districts--including Santa Ana’s and Los Angeles’--in the early 1990s. One goal is to give U.S. teachers a way to evaluate what new students from Mexico may have studied before; another is to provide students and parents access to materials they may be familiar with. Books also are being sent to other cities with large Mexican immigrant student populations, such as Chicago and Dallas.

The Santa Ana school district received 11,500 books last year and 15,000 books this year. Several thousand more are headed to the Anaheim City School District next week, said Isidro, the Mexican consul. There have been 375,000 books distributed throughout the United States this year, he added.

The cover of each book is marked “not for sale” in Spanish, and it is illegal to sell them in Mexico, where the Public Education Secretariat maintains a toll-free telephone number for complaints about such sales.

Isidro said he was initially annoyed when he learned of the book sale but appreciated Mijares’ apology.

“We have had an extremely successful relationship with the Santa Ana Unified School District,” Isidro said. “This was a mistake. It’s being corrected, and Mr. Mijares has assured us it will not happen again.”

District spokeswoman Lucy Araujo Cook said proceeds from Villa Intermediate’s book sale went to a library fund. At Washington Elementary School, books were given away.

No Intent to Make Money

Araujo Cook said district officials don’t know how many books were sold, given away or doled out at other schools. She said the books involved were not among those donated by the consulate but were presented by another Mexican official who visited the district.

Mijares said book sales are a common feature at local schools as libraries try to raise money for new texts and sell extra copies. In addition, schools give away some unneeded books.

He said the Spanish-language texts have been sought out by parents who are familiar with them. A minimal price was set, but there was no intention to make money off donated items, he said.

Concerned parents said the sale made it seem as if the school didn’t appreciate the donated books, which Mexico proudly publishes to demonstrate the country’s ability to educate its children.

“They [were] selling something that should be free,” said Chavez, whose 12-year-old daughter will soon enter sixth grade at Villa Intermediate.

“What it shows is that the government here does not understand that these books are just never sold,” added another parent, who asked that her name not be used because she feared reprisals from school officials against her son.

Although selling textbooks is not unusual in the United States, officials in Mexico were aghast when they were told of the book fair sale.

“No one in Mexico would even dare to sell these,” said Edmundo Santiago, a spokesman for Mexico’s National Free Textbook Commission. “They are part of our heritage. No one can make money off of that.”