FAIRFIELD – More than two years after Proposition 227 passed, bilingual education is once again in the spotlight at the Fairfield-Suisun School District.

Proposition 227 called for ending bilingual education statewide in favor of English language immersion. But School Board member Robert Pattillo said local educators use exceptions listed in the law to continue Spanish bilingual education classes, circumventing the law’s intent.

He’s asked the district to put together a report on how it teaches students who don’t speak English fluently. Board members will hear it when they meet at 7 p.m. today in the Fairfield City Council Chamber, 1000 Webster St.

At stake is the future method of teaching local Spanish-speaking students who don’t speak English fluently.

About 220 Fairfield-Suisun students take bilingual education classes, a little less than the 259 who did before Proposition 227 passed. The district offers bilingual classes only in Spanish.

These students will do better if they are taught in English only, as called for in Proposition 227, Pattillo said. Some local educators have said that some students learn better if taught in both Spanish and English and transitioned into English-only classes over several years.

“They think they’ve found a loophole,” Pattillo said. “I’m going to expose that loophole.”

The loophole in Pattillo’s view is Proposition 227’s waiver clause that allows students to be in bilingual classes if they have special needs as determined by their school. Parents must request the waivers.

The district uses the waiver clause to skirt the intent of Proposition 227, Pattillo said. Parents considering waivers get their information from school officials who favor bilingual education, he said.

“Our district is in deep denial over this,” Pattillo said.

School Board President Gary Falati said he wants to hear the presentation Thursday. He has yet to make up his mind on the issue, he said.

But he sees advantages to students being bilingual, Falati said. That will help them get jobs, he said.

School board member Ophelia Harvey a few months ago said the district should respect parents’ decisions to seek waivers for their children. She doesn’t believe the district bullies parents into seeking waivers, she said.

Fairfield-Suisun has about 1,975 Spanish-speaking students who don’t speak English fluently. Only those who attend Crescent or Anna Kyle elementary schools or transfer to those schools can take bilingual classes.

“It’s always been voluntary, prior to Proposition 227 and after 227,” said Araceli Cantu-Tong, district director of special projects.

Other students who don’t speak English language fluently are in classes that Cantu-Tong said are equivalent to English language immersion.

She wants to update the district’s overall plan for teaching students who don’t speak English fluently. Test scores are not as high as she’d like and this needs to be addressed, Cantu-Tong said.

Proposition 227 said that, with a few exceptions, “all children in public schools shall be taught English by being taught in English. In particular, this shall require that all children will be placed in English language classrooms.”

They are to be in classes with other students who don’t speak English fluently and taught “overwhelmingly” in English. Then they are to transfer to regular classes, normally within a year.

Proposition 227 does allow parents to request a waiver for bilingual classes. A principal and educational staff may grant the waiver if, after testing the child, they believe the child has “special physical, emotional, psychological or educational needs” that should exempt them from English immersion classes.

Fairfield-Suisun’s recommendation forms lists several educational reasons for allowing students to be placed in bilingual classes. Among them is the assessment that a child’s reading and writing abilities show a need to learn in Spanish and transition to English.

Pattillo points to California schools where students have made achievement test score gains in English-immersion classes. These gains have been documented by such newspapers as “The Wall Street Journal” and “The New York Times.”

But he is basing his appeal to the School Board to strictly follow Proposition 227 on another argument as well.

“The law is the law,” Pattillo said.

Barry Eberling can be contacted at [email protected].



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