Schools candidates take divergent views on bilingual education

Elections: 2 Santa Ana Unified incumbents believe the district is moving in the right direction, but 5 challengers disagree.

SANTA ANA, CA—Bilingual education has taken center stage in the race for two school board seats in the county’s largest district, Santa Ana Unified.

The board’s two incumbents, President Richard Hernandez and Rob Balen, are vying for their second four-year terms in the at-large race to serve a district whose neighborhoods experience society’s most serious problems, including poverty and violence.

Despite trying conditions, the dropout rate has fallen 61 percent since 1985, to 16.2 percent last year. And 67 percent of the graduates enrolled in two- or four-year colleges last year, the highest percentage in five years.

Balen and Hernandez attribute district successes to the board, Superintendent Rudy Castruita and the staff. They say the district still has a long way to go, but believe it is moving in the right direction.

Their five challengers disagree. During four candidate forums, attended by 20 to 30 people each, challengers used bilingual education as an example of what they believe is wrong with the district.

Of Santa Ana’s nearly 50,000 students, 67 percent speak limited English _ numbers unacceptable to challengers Tom Chaffee, an industrial engineer; James Albert Colon, a property agent; and Colleen Coombs, an office manager.

Candidate Alfonso Alvarez, a business consultant, thinks more parental involvement on committees will improve existing programs.

Postal worker Cesar Castillo did not return phone calls for comment.

The most popular bilingual-education program used in Santa Ana schools allows students initially to learn academics in Spanish most of the day, with limited lessons in English. As their English improves, they are moved into regular classrooms.

Chaffee, Coombs and Colon believe this system doesn’t work, and they are calling for a complete overhaul.

They want the district to move toward immersion programs, in which non- and limited-English-speaking students are placed in English-speaking classes most of the day, with limited instruction in their native languages.

They say the current bilingual-education system is ineffective and poorly managed, costing millions of dollars that could pay for more teachers and build more schools.

“We’re not talking about a new system here,” Colon said. “It has been around 20 years. If it was ever going to work, it would have worked by now. “

Hernandez and Balen say they know the controversial system has problems and are working to fix them. For example, they and other board members ordered a task force formed last year to examine bilingual education.

Balen said the task force came up with a 45-point plan to address bilingual-education problems. The district also is tracking the successes and failures of various bilingual programs to ensure that students are getting the best education.

While bilingual education has dominated forums, some of the candidates have personal concerns they’d like to pursue if elected to the board.

Coombs, for example, thinks classes are too large and wants to add more art, music and sports activities to make “more well-rounded students,” noting that many of those programs keep students in school. She also believes schools need to be more parent-friendly when recruiting for committees, so parents will become more involved.

“I support our school district,” said Coombs, who has four children. “If I thought it was so horrible, my kids wouldn’t be in it. I’m willing to work to make changes. “

Colon wants to open more fundamental schools that stress a back-to-basics approach to learning. The district currently has two elementary schools and one intermediate school using fundamental teaching methods emphasizing rote learning.

Colon also wants to better scores on student achievement tests and to eliminate school-based health clinics at five of the area’s poorest schools. Colon believes they have hidden agendas.

Balen plans to continue pressing for accountability among all programs in the district and improve test scores.

Hernandez believes the district is on the right path and plans to continue working to improve its programs.



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