According to California law, parents of students whose first language is not English have two choices: They can enroll their kids in bilingual classes in which, say, Spanish is the chief language. Or they can sign a waiver asking that their children attend English-language development classes, in which fluency is acquired much faster.

But when the Spanish-speaking parents of children enrolled in bilingual classes at Ninth Street School in Los Angeles unanimously demanded last fall that their children be enrolled in English-language development classes, they were told no.

The development classes were filled, said school officials, adding that bilingual classes were what the students needed despite parental concern that their kids were not learning English at all.

When Sister Alice Callahan, a nun who works with the children of the Spanish-speaking poor, repeated the parents’ demands to school officials, she was told: “Be patient. Things will be much better in five years.”

The problem is that the Los Angeles Unified School District gives each bilingual teacher a bonus of $5,000 not available to English-development instructors. Schools with bilingual programs also earn special grants, so downgrading them likely will bring school budget cuts – reason enough to maintain the bilingual programs.



Comments are closed.