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LOS ANGELES, November 22 -- Although Proposition 227 has dismantled most bilingual
education programs in public schools, public libraries--under no such restriction--public
libraries are offering increasingly popular reading programs in two languages and working
to offer more. The programs, including Spanish-language book sections and bilingual
library tours for visiting classes, are at the heart of a growing effort by public libraries in
heavily Latino communities to increase patronage among the region's Spanish-speaking
population. Under one program, Spanish-speaking library workers venture into clinics and
hospitals to encourage pregnant Latinas to visit the libraries and read to their babies. The
main goal of the bilingual programs is to simply encourage Latino children to pick up a
book--in any language--and to make regular visits to a library. Educators believe that
there is a strong tie between literacy rates and exposure to books early in life, and that
children who have access to books develop the early skills needed to read and have a greater
chance of becoming proficient readers. (Los Angeles Times)
SANTA ANA, Calif. November 20 -- Bilingual education is still an option for 4,700 students
in Orange County's largest school district, despite the Proposition 227 English immersion
requirement. Santa Ana Unified School District accounts for about 80 percent of the county's
requests for parental waivers, which exempt students from the English-immersion classes
required by the new law. Other districts with sizable numbers of limited-English students
had only about a dozen waivers requests each. Santa Ana board President Nativo Lopez said
there is a disparity between the number of waivers and the number of limited-English
students at schools. Placentia-Yorba Linda had a large number of waiver requests -- 800
out of 4,000 limited-English students. However, Garden Grove Unified had 12 waiver
requests, although 22,000 of its students are classified as limited English. "These are
telltale signs that perhaps schools aren't doing enough to explain the language, the law, the
various programs available and the rights of parents," Lopez said. (Sacramento Bee)
LOS ANGELES, November 13 -- After California voters passed Proposition 227 in June,
bilingual education was supposed to be dismantled. The proposition explicitly ordered that
all children be taught "overwhelmingly" in English. Most classrooms were supposed to be
English dominant. But two months after the start of the school year, that's not the case - at
least not yet. Across the state, in the 1,000 school districts and 8,000 individual schools,
bilingual education is fading in some but still flourishing in many more. Some districts,
notably San Francisco, are openly hostile to the new law and have chosen to ignore it by
claiming special circumstances. In others, parents took advantage of a provision in the law
and decided to keep their kids in bilingual classes. The response so far has prompted
complaints and threats of lawsuits from Ron Unz, the Silicon Valley millionaire who wrote
and paid for 227, and his allies in the state's major school districts. (USA Today)
WASHINGTON, November 11 -- Parents of thousands of California students are asking that
their children be returned to bilingual education, invoking a waiver option in the new state
law that aims to get rid of most such programs. Roughly one-third of the state's 1.4 million
limited-English-proficient students were enrolled in bilingual education before Golden State
voters approved Proposition 227 in June. That measure was designed to end most bilingual
education programs in the public schools, but it also included a way for parents to petition to
send their children back into such classes. After a 30-day waiting period, parents are
starting to exercise that option, in varying degrees, across the state. (Education Week)
PITTSBURG, Calif. November 6 -- Pittsburg schools are adhering to the strictest
interpretation of Proposition 227, which dismantled the bilingual-education programs in
which Kristina thrived. Munoz and parents of many of the other 1,300 non- English
speaking students in the Pittsburg Unified School District are frustrated with the district's
refusal to provide the limited-bilingual classes allowed by law. ``The children are
suffering,'' Munoz said. ``They are falling way behind. How can you give a math problem in
English to a child who doesn't understand English?'' District officials say they are merely
complying with the law and believe students will learn English faster without bilingual
classes. (San Francisco Chronicle)
PITTSBURG, Calif. November 4 -- Two groups --the parents of children with limited
English skills and school officials who have to implement Proposition 227 -- are slowly
coming to grips with the new law which replaces bilingual education with English-only
instruction. As of Monday, the Pittsburg Unified School District received 53 waiver
requests from students who wish to keep receiving bilingual instruction. Not bad,
considering that only six waiver requests had been sent to the district by mid-October.
(Contra Costa Times)
