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Panel to discuss possible oversight of foreign exchange program Tuesday, Jun 17, 2008 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Legislators today will consider whether the state should oversee the process firms use to place foreign exchange students in Arkansas. Representatives from at least one company that currently places foreign students in state high schools, as well as from Fayetteville High School, which decided this month to stop accepting foreign students from a Massachusetts firm, where scheduled to appear before legislative committees studying the issue. Last year, Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, asked for the study on placement of foreign exchange students with host families in Arkansas after receiving complaints that some of the students were being placed with families ill-equipped to take care of them. "I want to hear about this issue and decide whether the state should have review," Madison said Monday. The issue will be discussed at a joint meeting of the Senate Children and Youth Committee and the House Committee on Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs. When the Legislative Council approved the study proposal in December, the U.S. State Department was investigating complaints about placement of foreign students in Arkansas by Education First Foundation of Foreign Study of Cambridge, Mass. Earlier this month, after repeated problems with the firm, Fayetteville High School decided to no longer accept students provided by the company. The following day, the company fired the Fayetteville family hired to host the students during the school year. The federal investigation into Education First and its Fayetteville coordinators centered on allegations that exchange students stayed at the homes of the coordinators. Federal regulations prohibit employees of a foreign exchange company from serving as both a host family and area supervisor for a student. "We're looking forward to the opportunity to speak to the committee," Ellen Manz, director of program support for Education First Foundation, said Monday. Madison said lawmakers "need to understand, first, how the process works, the various steps used to find slots for the students in schools and how they try to find families, what is expected of the families and if they are told what is expected of them." A counselor from Fayetteville High School is expected to testify at today's meeting, as is Heather L. Slinkard of Bella Vista, area manager for a foreign exchange student placement company called Peace 4 Kids Inc. |
