Parents sue over 'English-only'
The parents of a 6-year-old girl faltering in an English-only class filed a federal lawsuit in Tucson on Thursday challenging the legality of the state's new bilingual education law. Last year Arizona voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 203, replacing most of the state's bilingual education with one-year English immersion classes. The California businessman who spearheaded the law stands behind it, saying the suit has no merit. But Oscar and Lizabeth Morales claim in Thursday's lawsuit that the law is hindering their daughter's education by forcing her to remain in an English-only class where she has made no academic progress this year. The suit, filed through attorney Tom Berning of the William E. Morris Institute for Justice, claims that the couple's daughter, Jasmine, is being kept in an English-only classroom despite struggling so much in class that she might have to repeat first grade. The Justice Institute is a nonprofit law firm providing representation and legislative advocacy to low-income Arizonans in the areas of civil rights, education and welfare reform. The lawsuit says Jasmine made "satisfactory progress" academically and in learning English while in a bilingual kindergarten class last year. After the law changed, Jasmine was placed in an English-only first-grade classroom this year at Grijalva Elementary School, 1795 W. Drexel Road, in the Tucson Unified School District. Her parents filed for a "special needs" waiver allowed by the law after Jasmine spent the minimum 30-day period in an English-only classroom. Though her teacher and the school principal recommended that Jasmine be transferred to a bilingual class, the waiver was rejected by Superintendent Stan Paz, according to the lawsuit. Paz, who is named in the suit along with the district, said he did not know the circumstances of the couple's claim, but said he is sure TUSD is doing its best to follow the law. Assistant Superintendent Becky Montaņo agreed, saying the waiver process was developed with the district's attorneys, who also help review waiver requests. "We can only work within the statute," Montaņo said of granting waivers for students to enroll in bilingual classes. Toni Cordova, a district spokeswoman, said neither Jasmine's teacher nor her principal could comment on the lawsuit. In TUSD, 3,230 students have received bilingual education waivers. That's about a third of the number of bilingual-education students TUSD had before passage of Proposition 203. Only about 10 TUSD students have received a Type 3 waiver, which is available to students with "special individual needs" who are unable to cope after 30 days of English immersion. That's the kind of waiver the Morales family sought for Jasmine. "They told us we could transfer, and you should have seen the look on her face when they introduced Jasmine to the bilingual education teacher. Jasmine hugged her and said, 'I want to be in your class,' " Lizabeth Morales said Thursday night in Spanish. "Three weeks later we got the letter saying she had to stay in the same class." Morales said she wants Jasmine to learn English as well as her brother Oscar, 7, a second-grader. But since Jasmine is having a tougher time with English, she thinks a bilingual class - like the one Oscar is in - would be the best approach. "She's just blocking everything out," Morales said. "Now they say she might have to repeat. Can you imagine what that will do to her?" Jasmine, who held her hand over her mouth and refused to answer a reporter's questions in either English or Spanish, said simply that she prefers Spanish. Oscar, however, said his little sister wants to learn English, too. Morales said her daughter, who last year wanted to go to class even if she was ill, sometimes wakes up crying because she does not want to go to school. Morales said she has made repeated trips to the school this year to confront the teacher and the principal about unfair treatment she feels her daughter has received because she prefers to speak Spanish. For example, she said Jasmine went without eating for a week because she would not give her four-digit lunch number in English. She also has missed part of recess because she has to clean tables for violating class rules Morales said Jasmine does not understand. Morales said she is tired of the confrontations. "I just want them to help her," Morales said. "I'm not asking for anything else." The lawsuit claims that keeping Jasmine in an English-only class violates the federal Equal Education Opportunities Act. That law requires school districts to take "appropriate action" to help students overcome language barriers that impede their equal participation in instructional programs. The lawsuit says the waiver process in Arizona's law is illegal because parents are unable to challenge district decisions on granting them. That denies them due process, the suit says. And it says the school district violated its own policies by not giving the Morales family a written explanation for denying them the waiver. Ron Unz, chairman of English for the Children, who led the Proposition 203 effort, said Thursday night that he is not too worried about the lawsuit. That's because federal court challenges to the 1998 California initiative, which Proposition 203 mirrors, have all failed, he said. "The lawsuits filed in California covered every possible issue and we won every case," Unz said. "We won appeals in the 9th Circuit Court (of Appeals), and that covers Arizona." * Contact Hipolito R. Corella at 573-4191 or at corella@azstarnet.com |