Listen to Parents on Bilingual Classes, Says Levy
Schools Chancellor Harold Levy is trying to chart a middle-of-the-road course for bilingual education reform by recommending that parents have the final say on whether their child is taught in a bilingual class or a more English-intensive one. Levy is expected to push the idea of informed parental consent when he meets with the Board of Education in closed session today, board sources and bilingual advocates said yesterday. The sources said Levy, who has carefully avoided taking a position on the controversial subject, will not suggest eliminating bilingual programs — a move that would trigger a legal battle. Instead, they said, the chancellor is expected to suggest two options. The first would add a voluntary English-immersion program, in which the bulk of the school day would be taught in English. Levy's second option would beef up existing English-as-a-second-language, or ESL, classes, in which students now spend up to three class periods learning English, the sources said. Students are assigned to bilingual programs unless their parents opt out, though many parents complain they were never told they have this option. Levy's proposal would have parents select the child's program. In his proposals, Levy incorporated many of the recommendations of Randy Mastro, head of Mayor Giuliani's task force on bilingual education, who has proclaimed the nearly 30-year-old program a failure. Mastro's task force has not released its final recommendations, but Giuliani and some of his advisers have said bilingual education should be scrapped. Levy also will recommend that the board embrace the more moderate suggestions of its bilingual task force, headed by Manhattan board member Irving Hamer. One of Hamer's key reforms — and most difficult to accomplish — is to prevent students from bouncing between bilingual and ESL classes. A recent Board of Ed report found that students in ESL programs moved to all-English classrooms faster than those in bilingual classes. But students who bounced between the programs fared the worst. Bilingual education advocates reacted warily to Levy's proposals, fearing they were a smokescreen for a return to English-only classes. "On the surface, informed consent is appealing, but we know all too well how information does not get to parents," said Juan Figueroa, the head of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, which sued the board on behalf of the group Aspira to create bilingual education. Figueroa, who met with Levy yesterday, warned that his group would seek to reopen its lawsuit if the city attempted to dismantle bilingual ed. |