English-only foes: Plan cheats kids

Educators, parents protest at conference

A proposed ballot initiative that calls for ‘English immersion’ to replace Colorado’s bilingual education program will cheat Spanish-speaking students if it is approved, opponents said Saturday.

Nearly 100 educators, teachers and parents protested the initiative that would amend the state’s constitution to stop bilingual education.

‘If this passes, it will take us, Mexicanos, down the drain,’ said Flor Orozco, 19, a former East High School student.

Orozco immigrated to the U.S. at age 9 from Mexico. She was enrolled in bilingual education for two years before she was placed in mainstream classes in fifth grade – too quickly, she said.

In 10th grade, Orozco dropped out of school because she was ashamed of her language skills, she said.

‘I’m illiterate in two languages,’ Orozco said, adding that she earned a general-education degree last year. The protest took place at the Doubletree Hotel on Quebec Street, where the Colorado Coalition of Hispanic School Board Members held La Promesa 2000, a conference on programs that benefit the Hispanic community.

Linda Chavez, head of the Washington, D.C.-based One Nation Indivisible, and U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Littleton, are sponsoring the proposal that calls for one year of intensive English instruction before Spanish-speaking students would enroll in mainstream English-only classes.

Under the initiative, parents could get a waiver to have their kids in bilingual education.

Chavez and Tancredo were to attend La Promesa but canceled last month, organizers said.

Armed with signs that read ‘English yes, but not English only’ and ‘Equal education for all,’ protesters called for a gradual transition. At the conference, Chavez’s representative, Jeanine Chavez, said Hispanic children do not need the special treatment the current system provides.

‘They should be able to (learn English) in nine or 10 months,’ she said. ‘Bilingual education is not working because children are leaving illiterate in two languages.’

Colorado State Colleges instructor Joseph C’de Baca represented Tancredo at La Promesa, and said opponents should not view the initiative as a racial issue.

‘This is about getting kids that come from other countries to learn English as quickly as possible,’ he said. ‘Not in five years and not in seven years and then slowly shelter them into English. That is patronizing and it’s creating dependency.’

Boulder Valley School District Board member and conference organizer Bill de la Cruz criticized Tancredo and Chavez.

‘Who are these people coming from D.C. to tell us how to educate our children?’ he said to the crowd. Backers of the initiative need 62,595 valid signatures by Aug. 7 to get on the November ballot.



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