Update: Bilingual Battle

Martin continues push for state waiver on bilingual education

Trustee Harald Martin again pressed his fellow Anaheim City School District board members to seek a waiver from state bilingual education requirements.

Martin, who said he has visited classrooms at six schools, believes the district is underestimating the abilities of many students who speak limited English.

“I found kids were speaking to each other, their teachers, and to me in English, but they were reading from a Spanish textbook,” Martin said.

Martin wants all limited-English-speaking students who enroll in the district to automatically be placed in classes taught in English, unless parents request otherwise.

The state, however, requires school districts to offer primary-language instruction for students who need such instruction.

Trustee Betty Patterson opposes Martin’s proposal,saying the district should offer primary-language instruction for students who need it.

“Philosophically, I think it makes sense that non-English-speaking children learn in their native language first and then make the change within three years or so to English,” Patterson said.

Trustees will receive a report later this year on the effectiveness of the district’s program for teaching students who speak limited English. If the results show the program needs to be improved, the district may need to modify its program, Patterson said.

One possible way to begin modifying the system would be to move selected students to English-language instruction more quickly than the district currently does.

Eventually, the district could how determine how this group performs compared to other students.

“If the students aren’t making the transition to English instruction fast enough, let’s see what we can do,” Patterson said.

While Anaheim City trustees were discussing bilingual education, the Savanna School District received its bilingual-education waiver from the state Board of Education.

The waiver allows the district to provide English-only instruction to all students. English-language Development lessons will be available to students who speak limited English to help them become fluent in English.

The waiver runs through January 1999.

Savanna becomes the third Orange County school district to receive a similar waiver.

The others are the Westminster School District and the Anaheim-based Magnolia School District.



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