Anaheim Clings to Bilingual Plan

Catherine E. Liska
Los Angeles Times (Orange County, Letters)
Sunday, August 9, 1998

Re "Loophole Delays English-Only Classes at Some O.C. Schools," July 30:

As a teacher in the Anaheim City School District, I can tell you exactly why the district wishes to delay the implementation of Prop. 227: lack of English language arts materials, and the stubborn refusal to let go of bilingual education.

Recently, the district spent almost a million dollars on the Houghton Mifflin reading program because it has a Spanish reading/spelling/writing component.

Many teachers were in favor of the phonics-based Open Court program, but because there was no Spanish component, it lost favor. Before its adoption, it was announced that 73% were in favor of Houghton Mifflin, but a teachers' union official stated she heard it was 50/50. Guess who won and why?

The ignorant Board of Education and the arrogant district administrators refused to see the writing on the wall. So now it's going to cost taxpayers about $300,000 more for the district to correct the situation.

The situation should have never been, especially in light of the fact that data presented at a school board meeting, using district figures, showed that those students not in a bilingual setting had a 262% greater chance of being redesignated to English-fluent.

Also, until recently the district had a less than 5% average to successfully redesignate its Spanish-speaking limited English students, the majority of whom were being taught in bilingual classrooms.

This does not even take into consideration the thousands of Spanish- speaking parents who, over a 20-year period, were denied the right of immersion for their children because teachers were restricted from informing them of their choices.

In fact, there was not even a procedure in the district until late 1996 to ensure that these parents could make a choice between immersion and bilingual, even though the Education Code specifically makes an allowance for parental choice.

Rest assured that if there are any loopholes, the Anaheim City School District leaders will find and use them to keep bilingual education, regardless of what the law says, the data show, or what parents want and expect.