Popular teacher faces deportation to Africa

Since he began teaching in Boston public schools 10 years ago, Obain Attouoman has become a popular figure, impressing students and colleagues alike with his warmth, facility with languages, and ability to motivate youngsters.

But barring a last-minute reprieve, the 42-year-old teacher at Fenway High School will soon be deported to Ivory Coast, his homeland. Attouoman sought political asylum in 1994 but missed a crucial hearing before an immigration judge in 2001 because he misread the handwritten date, according to his lawyers.

He was arrested on a warrant of deportation on Nov. 28 and has since been held in the Suffolk County Jail. Yesterday, after word got around that he might be deported as early as today, at least 50 students staged a spirited rally outside Fenway High, carrying signs that said, "Let Obain Teach" and "Free Obain."

"He's my mentor," said Brian Rose, a 16-year-old sophomore who met Attouoman about eight years ago when Rose attended the Mary Lyon School, where Attouoman was teaching English and social studies. "The ironic thing is he knew more about American history than probably 90 percent of American citizens, and he's the one getting deported."

Federal immigration authorities have received 30 to 40 letters from Attouoman's supporters, including US Representative Michael E. Capuano, School Superintendent Thomas W. Payzant, Fenway Headmaster Peggy Kemp, teachers, students, and officials from the Museum of Science, where he taught one day a week, according to his lawyer.

But federal officials said Attouoman is still going to have to return to his West African country, which descended into turmoil after a coup in 1999 reignited ethnic and religious divisions.

"We have a due process that's in place, and he's obviously afforded himself that," said Greg Gagne, a spokesman for the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review. "The decisions were rendered by the courts and by the Board of Immigration Appeals reviewing the totality of the case. I don't have any way to add on that."

Attouoman came to the United States in 1992 on an "exchange visitor" visa, according to Susan Cohen, a lawyer for Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo, which has represented Attouoman free of charge since his arrest. He had worked as a teacher in the Ivory Coast, but was jailed twice in 1990 for activism in the Ivorian People's Front, an insurgent political party that later came to power.

About two years after his arrival, Attouoman began teaching at Mary Lyon. He impressed students with his knowledge of foreign languages -- co-workers said he speaks five, including French, the official language of the Ivory Coast -- and with his approachable demeanor.

Attouoman began working at Fenway about four years ago, according to Kemp. He co-teaches two 10th-grade math classes, serves as a student adviser, and has been particularly successful helping students make the transition from middle school to the high school. Attouoman applied for political asylum in 1994, citing the upheaval in his country. Seven years later, he received a notice to appear in US Immigration Court in Boston on June 7 to establish why he deserved asylum. But the date of the hearing was handwritten, Cohen said, and Attouoman thought it said July 7.

Days after he missed the hearing, Cohen said, he received a notice saying that the court had ordered him deported in absentia. Stunned, he hired a lawyer from another firm to file a motion to rescind the order, but immigration Judge Eliza C. Klein denied the request without explanation. His lawyer appealed the denial to the Board of Immigration of Appeals, which dismissed it in February 2002, Cohen said.

Attouoman, who lives in Everett, is separated from his wife and has no children. He was arrested when he tried to retrieve his car after it was towed from Fenway High last November, Cohen said.

Although her client acknowledges that he missed the important hearing date, Cohen said, he can't believe that the judicial system is so inflexible that he will be deported.

"It was just because he thought it said July 7 instead of June 7 -- that was his crime," she said.

Some of his defenders are hoping federal authorities reconsider.

Capuano said through a spokeswoman that he has appealed to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on "behalf of Mr. Attouoman, who by all accounts, is a talented and popular teacher." Capuano said he was pleased to learn late yesterday that the teacher wouldn't be deported today, and vowed to continue lobbying federal officials.

Lynn Baum, the youth program manager at the Museum of Science, where Attouoman taught students every Tuesday as part of the Eye Opener program, said it's rare for students to have such a good teacher.

"We're still struggling to have enough role models for our children," she said.