A federal court ruling Wednesday upholding the constitutionality of Proposition 227 prompted schools Superintendent Ruben Zacarias to announce that bilingual classes throughout the LAUSD will be eliminated by Aug. Zacarias said that since the June 2 election, when the statewide initiative on bilingual education won overwhelming support, administrators have been developing two or three options for parents to choose from. He will announce that choice to the Board of Education on Tuesday. It will be tough, however, to get schools ready in time, Zacarias said during a news conference at Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters.”It doesn’t make instructional or logistical sense,” he said. “I frankly think it’s rather disruptive to ask any school district to, within a matter of weeks, effect the kind of dramatic change they are asking for.”The approach, he added, “will obviously have to be radically different.

“Even under Proposition 227, he noted, the district can offer “support” to students in their primary language. The planning process has been complicated because state education officials have failed to respond to the district’s requests for solid definitions about the types of programs allowed under 227.”

It’s not helpful that they haven’t clearly defined the parameters,” Zacarias said.Officials from school districts across Los Angeles County echoed Zacarias’ frustration, saying the law is vague and doesn’t give them enough time.”

I’m going on vacation in August, and school starts in September,” said Andrea Canady, director of elementary education for the Burbank Unified School District and head of its bilingual education program.”I’m not against doing this, but it’s being forced down us without enough time to swallow it.”

Vic Pallos, spokesman for the Glendale Unified School District, agreed.

“This is going to be a tough change,” he said. “A lot has to happen in the next month or two to redesign the (bilingual education) program.”Bilingual supporters said they are considering an appeal of the decision by U.S. District Judge Charles Legge. He ruled that Proposition 227, approved by 61 percent of voters, does not discriminate against minorities or violate a federal law requiring schools to educate students with limited English proficiency.

Opponents’ fears of harm to the students “are legitimate concerns, apparently supported by many experts,” Legge said in his 48-page ruling. But other experts, he said, supported the proposition’s approach, and he was neither qualified nor required to resolve their disagreement.Scheduled to take effect next month, the law gives non-English-speaking children a year to learn English in intensive language training before moving into regular classes. After 30 days, parents could request native-language instruction, but they would need permission from school officials.

Ron Unz, the Silicon Valley millionaire who spearheaded the initiative, heralded the court ruling as the start of a new era in education for California’s 1.4 million limited-English-proficient students.

“I’m very pleased,” Unz said. “It was a victory for the people of California, for the overwhelming majority of Californians who supported the initiative in landslide numbers, and for the hundreds of thousands of immigrant children who will finally be taught English in public schools starting in September.”

Doug Stone, spokesman for the state Department of Education, said the agency has developed emergency guidelines to enable districts to comply with the law.State education board member Marina Tse said schools — at least temporarily — can custom-design their English immersion programs because the state doesn’t have a formal definition for such curricula. “Any way they set it up is fine,” Tse said, adding that the state board will begin drawing up guidelines under which parents can seek the program waivers.

In Glendale, 49 percent of the district’s 30,200 students have limited English proficiency. Of those, 12 percent are enrolled in bilingual education. The remaining 37 percent receive special instruction in English, primarily outside their regular classes.

District spokesman Pallos fears that many immigrant students will fall behind in other subjects while learning English.

“They’re going to miss the science, they’re going to miss the history and all those other subjects during the period of time we’re going to be trying to do the intensive English immersion program,” he said.

But Unz said students would continue to learn other subjects — just in English. Secondary students, who might have a harder time grasping a new language, could opt out of the program with special waivers signed by their parents. Canady said the Burbank district is developing a contingency plan for its estimated 500 to 1,000 bilingual education students. English immersion already is offered at some elementary schools in the district, and about 60 percent of its teachers are trained to teach English immersion. But six elementary schools offer traditional bilingual education.”It means that classes that already are set for September are going to have to be redone to some extent,” said Canady, who foresees trouble in the years ahead for California’s public schoolchildren.

“More and more we’re not talking education, we’re talking political decisions, and it’s unfortunate.”

Other districts said they either had too few limited-English-proficient students for the new law to have much effect or already use English immersion programs. Like the neighboring Conejo Valley Unified School District, the Las Virgenes Unified School District already has total English immersion, with aides giving help to students who need it, administrators said.

In the Santa Clarita Valley, the Saugus Union School District has the most elementary students and schools, but its population of limited-English-proficient students is small, at just 4 percent, said Assistant Superintendent Joan Lucid. Reminded that just weeks ago a group of LAUSD teachers vowed to defy Proposition 227 in the classroom, Zacarias said he is confident that they will follow the law. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” he said. “Our teachers are professionals.”

Daily News Staff Writers Kevin F. Sherry and Mary Schubert contributed to this story.



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