MURRIETA—Without comment, the Murrieta school board unanimously approved a plan Thursday to teach children to speak, read and write in English by teaching them in English.

The English Immersion Master Plan replaces the district’s bilingual education program, which public school districts in California were required to abandon in the wake of the June 2 passage of Prop. 227, the English-only initiative.

About 385 students, or 3 percent, of the students in the Murrieta Valley Unified School District have little to no English language skills, and most of them speak Spanish as their native language.

Murrieta’s English immersion program requires that the students achieve reasonable fluency in English before focusing on academics.

In the past, bilingual teachers have taught students English while at the same time teaching them other academic subjects in their primary language.

In Murrieta, the new program is designed prepare students in one year for mainstream classes taught only in English.??But if local educators find that the child is not ready, the student may be kept in the immersion program a second year.

Prop. 227 requires that children graduate to mainstream classes once they achieve a “reasonable fluency” in English.??But local educators are allowed to define the term.??Murrieta’s new program requires that a student must develop “intermediate” speaking skills and “low-level” reading and writing skills – as defined by local tests – or be close to grade level in language arts skills to achieve reasonable fluency.

To comply with the legal requirements of Prop. 227, local educators have adopted the program at two elementary schools, and at the district’s middle and high schools, said Estelle Jaurequi, the district’s coordinator of English language development.

Classes in the immersion program are to be taught overwhelmingly in English, as required by Prop. 227, but teachers are still allowed to speak in a student’s native language if needed, and bilingual aides are still allowed in the classroom, according to a handbook the district has given teachers.

At the elementary schools, English immersion programs are offered at Murrieta Elementary School for kindergarten through the third grade and at Alta Murrieta Elementary School for the third through fifth grades.??Parents at other elementary schools who want their children to participate in the program are bused to the schools, Jaurequi said.

If students at Alta Murrieta complete the third grade but need another year in the program, they must transfer to Murrieta Elementary.??Parents can apply for a waiver to take their child out of the program, but administrators can deny the request if they feel more instruction is needed.

Parents have largely approved of the program, Jaurequi said, adding that “we do have some parents who would like to have their children return to their native language. “



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