Proposed bilingual class cuts attacked

District says it's just following 227

HIGHLAND—Hispanic parents at Bonnie Oehl Elementary School on Thursday denounced a proposal to cut bilingual classes, continuing the debate as school districts struggle to comply with Prop. 227.

About 40 parents attended a meeting at the San Bernardino city school district campus to protest the proposed elimination of Oehl’s magnet bilingual program next July. The program enrolls about 60 children in kindergarten through second grade.

Some parents said they resented finding out about the plan without anyone asking their opinion.

“We just want to know the truth and what’s really going to happen with our program,” said Patricio Gonzalez, chairman of the Oehl school site council.

District administrators told parents the proposal to cut bilingual classes was premature, and came as a recommendation from a committee studying magnet programs.

District workers still are sifting through 2,000 parent requests to opt children out of 227’s requirement that they be taught overwhelmingly in English. Bilingual programs continue to run districtwide because of parent demand.

Assistant Superintendent Leslie Pulliam said the district is doing its best to follow the law. She said Oehl may continue to offer bilingual classes next year if parent demand is high enough.

Under 227, approved by state voters in June and implemented Aug. 2, the school must keep bilingual classes if it receives requests from the parents of 20 or more children in the same grade. Parents may opt out of the law if their children are at least 10 years old, already know English or have special physical, emotional, psychological or educational needs.

Jim Garcia, president of the Oehl bilingual advisory committee and father of two, raised other concerns at Thursday’s meeting. He accused Oehl Principal Linda Campbell of intimidating Hispanic parents and trying to push their children out of the school.

Campbell denied the accusation and said she wants to keep all the students she now has.

Garcia drew jeers from some teachers in the crowd when he unfurled a list of complaints against the school – some unrelated to bilingual education. He refused to give up the floor after more than 20 minutes, even after Pulliam screamed over him and threatened to disband the meeting if he did not stop.

Some of the bilingual teachers said they too felt left out of discussions about the program, but others defended the actions of administrators.

After the meeting, some teachers said they were upset that the issue had divided their own ranks.

“What’s sad is that we don’t want the staff divided and that’s what’s starting to happen,” said Kitty Stier, who teaches third grade.

Parents joined forces with activist groups last week to file a complaint against Campbell and other administrators, alleging that their civil rights were violated because no one consulted them about cutting bilingual classes.

On Monday, the Mexican-American Political Association and the California Parents Association, an education advocacy group, banded together to file a civil rights complaint against the school district. The complaint, filed with the U.S. Department of Education, charges that administrators are improperly banning Hispanic children from bilingual instruction.

Pulliam said during Thursday’s meeting that she understands parent frustrations because Prop. 227 poses challenges that she never envisioned.

“At this point and time, the provisions of 227 are very new to us,” Pulliam said. “If we don’t have enough bilingual students to have bilingual classes at every school in the district, we may take certain schools and develop full bilingual programs there. “

She added that configuring bilingual classes is a tricky task, and probably would require moving some pupils to new campuses next year.

Meanwhile, district officials await a response to a request they sent to the state to exempt their campuses from 227’s requirements.



Comments are closed.