The Educational Welcome of Latinos in the New South

Book excerpt: This is the tale of the origin, emergence, and transformation of an unorthodox binational partnership, the Georgia Project, that brought a Mexican university to aid a Georgia school district that suddenly found itself hosting thousands of Latino newcomers. It is also the tale of educational leaders evolving understandings of what they needed to do. This book tells the particular story of the Georgia Project, a partnership initiated between leading citizens, a school district, and a Mexican university to help Dalton, Georgia, the Carpet Capital of the World as it suddenly found itself host to the first majority Latino school district in Georgia. The book focuses on the evolving understandings of six early leders of this initiative and their resultant actions. It tries to carefully situate these particular actors within the larger swirl of conflicting scripts and public sphere messages regarding who Latino newcomers are, what they want and merited, and how the community should respond.