Increasing Emphasis On English Proposed For Santa Ana Schools

A Santa Ana Unified School District staff report made public Wednesday night recommends more emphasis on using and teaching English in the classroom.

The report calls for district to have a fourfold increase in classes where English is the primary language of instruction. Such classes are called “English immersion.”

The report simultaneously calls for a reduction in classes where Spanish or some language other than English is the primary language of instruction. Such classes are called “transitional language programs.”

The staff report was presented to a meeting of the five-member Santa Ana Unified School Board Wednesday night. Three newly elected board members, Audrey Yamajata-Noji, Sal Mendoza and Robert Richardson, also attended the meeting. They will be sworn into office Dec. 8.

Asst. Supt. Barbara C. Nelson told the meeting that no vote will take place until after the new members take office.

Necessity for Report

Neither the old nor new members of the board raised many questions about the staff report. The report became necessary because California’s old law on bilingual education expired June 30. The Legislature’s bill to continue the program was vetoed by Gov. George Deukmejian in September.

The old bilingual law had strict requirements about how many students could be in a class of limited-English speakers. The old law also had a triggering mechanism for designating when a teacher fluent in two languages had to be present in a classroom.

Many teachers in California, including those in Santa Ana Unified, complained that the old law was needlessly strict and inflexible. The staff report presented Wednesday night stressed that the approach in Santa Ana Unified should be for more flexibility in meeting the needs of the students and the schools.

The biggest change called for in the report is to emphasize English as the primary instructional language in more classes. Michael McLean, deputy administrator for Santa Ana Unified’s Elementary Division, told the meeting that under the old law the school district had just 50 English immersion-type classes. Under the new proposal, there would be 205 English immersion classes in the district.

Class Proposals

Conversely, the number of classes where another language, which in Santa Ana Unified is predominantly Spanish, is used as the instructional language would be greatly decreased. McLean said that under the old way, there were 475 transitional language classes, but under the new proposal there would be just 250 such classes where Spanish, or another language other than English, would be the primary language of instruction.

Diane Thomas, spokeswoman for the school district, emphasized after the meeting that the report in no way indicates a lessening of instruction for those who are limited in their understanding of English.

“The change the report suggests would allow greater freedom in bringing instruction to these children,” Thomas said.

One of the changes the report calls for is doing away with the ratio of limited-English speakers to fluent English speakers in the classroom. The old law required that not more than two-thirds of any class be made up of limited-English speakers.

The staff report said that it makes more sense to use bilingual teachers in classes where up to 100% of the students need help in two languages.



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