PITTSBURG — The federal government is investigating the Pittsburg Unified School District for its treatment of limited-English speaking students.

The probe was spurred by a discrimination complaint alleging that limited-English speaking students in Pittsburg have not received adequate educational services during the 1998-1999 school year.

The grievance was received by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights on Jan. 14.

Pro Committee of Education, which is made up largely of Latino parents, filed the complaint.

As a result, the Office of Civil Rights plans on conducting investigations at specific school campuses in May.

Ruben Rosalez, co-chairman of Pro Committee, said he is pleased that the federal government is taking his group’s complaint seriously.

“I feel very satisfied,” he said. “We jumped through a lot of hoops to get to this stage. Because they’re looking into the situation, we feel they’re validating some of our points.”

Ava Law, the lead investigator on the complaint, said little. “I can’t answer any questions,” she said. “We haven’t even begun our investigation yet.”

The federal government’s notice to the district states that “the OCR takes no position on the complaint at this time.”

School Superintendent Robert Newell was attending a conference in Los Angeles Thursday and wasn’t available for comment.

Alice Kawazoe, Pittsburg’s director of curriculum, said the district is cooperating with investigators.

“The district is getting together the documentation that the (notice) requests,” she said. “I don’t think we have much choice about that.”

The documents that investigators requested from the district include:

?The Master Plan ?A description of its policy on implementing Proposition 227 ?A plan that outlines the number of staff people to help limited-English speaking students ?Qualification requirements for bilingual instructors and aides

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The district must submit the requested information to the Office of Civil Rights no later than April 5.

Based on the notice sent to the district, on-site investigations will likely begin on May 5 and last for several days.

The notice named four sites that will be the primary focus of the investigation.

They are Foothill Elementary, Heights Elementary, Central Junior High and Pittsburg High School.

Most of the 1,700 limited-English speaking students in the district attend these schools.

Rosalez is confident that his group’s complaint has merit.

“We feel that investigators will find some violations of the federal law,” he said.

Pro Committee has frequently chastised the district’s handling of limited-English speaking students ever since Proposition 227 passed last June.

The initiative has effectively dismantled bilingual instruction throughout the state in favor of English immersion programs.

Pro Committee is also awaiting a reply from the State Board of Education on a separate complaint filed in January.

The group maintains that the district did not lawfully implement Proposition 227.

“Our position is that the district’s policy on implementing 227 only exists on paper,” Rosalez said. “Pieces of it are straggling here and there. But, overall, the entire policy is not in place.”

Rosalez pointed out that the district waited until last November — well into the school year –even to talk about an implementation policy on Proposition 227.

“By then, a lot of the students were already struggling in the classrooms,” he said.

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Tim Tyler covers education in Pittsburg. You can reach him at 779-7166 or e-mail [email protected]. Click on “East County” in www.hotcoco.com for local news.



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