Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, May 5, 2018

9

EDUCATION & YOUTH 

Mountain Views-News Saturday, May 5, 2018 

STATE DEPARTMENT SHUTS OUT KIDS FROM 

SUMMER JOBS

SCHOOL DIRECTORY

By Joe Guzzardi

With summer just weeks away, teenagers and college 
students looking for seasonal employment will 
have to compete with the annual influx of international 
workers.

 The State Department’s Summer Work Travel 
Program (SWT) will once again, as it has for decades, 
provide an unlimited number of J-1 visas 
to young foreign nationals who will come to the 
U.S. to work at a variety of jobs. The State Department 
defends SWT as a valuable cultural exchange 
tool when in reality it’s a cheap labor bonanza for 
employers.

 The jobs include lifeguarding, waiting tables at 
resorts, guiding tourists through national parks, 
scooping ice cream and providing child care as 
au pairs. These are jobs that most American kids 
would eagerly do, given the opportunity.

 But since the J-1 has no prevailing wage requirement, 
employers can pay the visa holders lower 
wages than those U.S. workers earn in similar occupations 
and in the same geographic region. 
Furthermore, employers are exempt from paying 
the Social Security, Medicare, federal and state 
unemployment taxes on J-1visa holders who are 
often required to work overtime without extra 
compensation.

 Because international students pay an average of 
about $1,100 in fees to private organizations that 
sponsor their participation in the program, the 
program generates well over $100 million in annual 
revenues for those organizations. Participants 
pay out millions more in visa fees to the State Department, 
and in travel expenses to and from the 
U.S. In the end, sponsors pay government dues to 
be part of the program; students pay the fees associated 
with the program and their own roundtrip 
travel expenses; employers pay nothing. Many unsuspecting 
SWTs return home disillusioned, often 
with little money saved.

 The State Department’s failure to oversee its own 
program has led to multiple instances of exploitation 
like last year’s Myrtle Beach case. Ten Dominican 
Republic college students were promised jobs 
at an Italian ice shop, plus adequate accommodations, 
but ended up keeping house and living in a 
bed bug-infested motel. Similar abuses have been 
documented in Virginia, Michigan, Pennsylvania 
and Mississippi.

 Last year, The Wall Street Journal reported the 
Trump administration is considering reducing the 
number of visas issued under SWT. And as usual 
when employment-based visas are scrutinized with 
an eye toward cutting the total granted, businesses 
cry foul and falsely predict that without cheap foreign 
labor they’ll go bankrupt.

 Yet, despite well-deserved and documented criticism 
from labor experts who point to multiple 
SWT flaws, the program carries on year after year 
even though the unemployment rate among young 
Americans, and especially minorities, is high. Last 
summer, a survey showed that teens were about 
three times as likely to be unemployed as other 
Americans.

 A few takeaways: serving gelato or waiting tables 
on the Boardwalk can’t reasonably be considered 
cultural exchange. If employers offered decent 
wages and working conditions, they’d have little 
trouble attracting American kids. Moreover, shutting 
Americans out of the labor market has negative 
long-term consequences. Unemployed young 
adults don’t learn how to interact with their peers 
or their often demanding bosses. They don’t acquire 
essential work qualities like timeliness and 
accountability that will lead to a productive career.

 The most obvious and important conclusion of all 
to draw from SWT is that the federal government 
cannot enact or efficiently monitor any type of immigration 
legislation that helps American workers.

-

 Joe Guzzardi is a Progressives for Immigration 

Reform analyst. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org.

Alverno Heights Academy

200 N. Michillinda Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

(626) 355-3463 Head of School: Julia V. Fanara

E-mail address: jfanara@alvernoheights.org

Arcadia High School

180 Campus Drive Arcadia, CA 91007

Phone: (626) 821-8370, Principal: Brent Forsee

bforsee@ausd.net

Arroyo Pacific Academy

41 W. Santa Clara St. Arcadia, Ca, 

(626) 294-0661 Principal: Phil Clarke

E-mail address: pclarke@arroyopacific.org

Barnhart School

240 W. Colorado Blvd Arcadia, Ca. 91007

(626) 446-5588 

Head of School: Ethan Williamson

Kindergarten - 8th grade

website: www.barnhartschool.org

Bethany Christian School

93 N. Baldwin Ave. Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

(626) 355-3527 

Preschool-TK-8th Grade

Principal: Dr. William Walner

website: www. bcslions.org

Clairbourn School

8400 Huntington Drive

San Gabriel, CA 91775

Phone: 626-286-3108 ext. 172

FAX: 626-286-1528

E-mail: jhawes@clairbourn.org

Foothill Oaks Academy

822 Bradbourne Ave., Duarte, CA 91010

(626) 301-9809 

Co-Principals Nancy Lopez and Diane Kieffaber

info@foothilloaksacademy.org 

preschool@foothilloaksacademy.org

Frostig School

971 N. Altadena Drive Pasadena, CA 91107

(626) 791-1255

Head of School: Jenny Janetzke

Email: jenny@frostig.org

The Gooden School

192 N. Baldwin Ave. Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

(626) 355-2410 

Head of School, Carl Parke 

website: www.goodenschool.org

High Point Academy

1720 Kinneloa Canyon Road 

Pasadena, Ca. 91107 

Head of School: Gary Stern 626-798-8989

website: www.highpointacademy.org

La Salle High School

3880 E. Sierra Madre Blvd. Pasadena, Ca. 

(626) 351-8951 website: www.lasallehs.org

Principal Mrs. Courtney Kassakhian

Monrovia High School

325 East Huntington Drive, Monrovia, CA 91016 

(626) 471-2800 Principal Darvin Jackson

Email: schools@monrovia.k12.ca.us

Odyssey Charter School

725 W. Altadena Dr. Altadena, Ca. 91001

(626) 229-0993 Head of School: Lauren O’Neill

website: www.odysseycharterschool.org

Pasadena High School

2925 E. Sierra Madre Blvd. Pasadena, Ca. 

(626) 396-5880 Principal: Roberto Hernandez

website: http://phs.pusd.us

St. Rita Catholic School

322 N. Baldwin Ave. Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

Principal Joan Harabedian (626) 355-9028 

website: www.st-rita.org

Sierra Madre Elementary School

141 W. Highland Ave, Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

(626) 355-1428 Principal: Lindsay Lewis

E-mail address: lewis.lindsay@pusd.us

Sierra Madre Middle School 

160 N. Canon Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

(626) 836-2947 Principal: Garrett Newsom

E-mail address: newsom.garrett@pusd.us

Walden School

74 S San Gabriel Blvd

Pasadena, CA 91107 (626) 792-6166 

www.waldenschool.net

Weizmann Day School

1434 N. Altadena Dr. Pasadena, Ca. 91107

(626) 797-0204

Lisa Feldman: Head of School

Wilson Middle School

300 S. Madre St. Pasadena, Ca. 91107

(626) 449-7390 Principal: Ruth Esseln

E-mail address: resseln@pusd.us

Pasadena Unified School District

351 S. Hudson Ave., Pasadena, Ca. 91109

(626) 396-3600 Website: www.pusd@pusd.us

Arcadia Unified School District

234 Campus Dr., Arcadia, Ca. 91007

(626) 821-8300 Website: www.ausd.net

Monrovia Unified School District

325 E. Huntington Dr., Monrovia, Ca. 91016

(626) 471-2000 

Website: www.monroviaschools.net

Duarte Unified School District

1620 Huntington Dr., Duarte, Ca. 91010

(626)599-5000 

Website: www.duarte.k12.ca.us


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com