Janesville has the second-highest number of Cambodian students in state

by BETH WHEELOCK ( Contact ) Thursday, Dec. 27, 2007

JANESVILLE — The Janesville School District has the second-highest number of Cambodian students in Wisconsin.
English Language Learners program support teacher Julie DeCook says many of the Cambodian students have been in her program for a long time. She says many of them are not literate in their first language. DeCook says many of their parents were able to escape Cambodia in the 1970s because they weren't educated. She says one important thing to remember about Cambodians is that they come from a different country than Wisconsin's Hmong population.
It appears Cambodian families chose to settle in Janesville when churches sponsored them after the Vietnam War and genocide in Cambodia.