Thread: NJ:School 'Shocked' by English-Only Rule

School 'shocked' by English-only rule

Published: Feb. 5, 2009 at 11:59 PM

VINELAND, N.J., Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Administrators at a South Jersey high school say they only learned of a substitute teacher's English-only policy when they heard from the ACLU.

The American Civil Liberties Union obtained a copy of the contract the teacher allegedly made students in a special-education class at Vineland High School North sign last year, The Vineland (N.J.) Journal reported. Charles Ottinger, the school superintendent, said he was "shocked" when the group sent him a copy last week.

The teacher filled in for six weeks at the high school during the last school year. She handed out what she called a "Classroom Protocol Contract," telling the students that signing it would count as a test grade.

The contract included an English-only clause: "This is an English speaking school and classroom -- any other language other than English will not be tolerated."

Ottinger said Wednesday the teacher would be called in and advised that the school has no English-only policy and that instituting one is not condoned.

No students or parents complained about the contract, the newspaper said.

© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/02/05/ ... 233896357/

Good for the sub!

Can you imagine 20 kids in one classroom, each speaking a different language in class? How is that teaching them communication skills? How is that teaching them how to succeed? There MUST be ONE common language and that is ENGLISH!

It seems to me that this teacher is making a much deeper statement than just english only. I am especially concerned that this was a special education class. My grandson has a verbal communication condition so I know many of the kids in special ed have speech problems. I think the problem here is at a higher level than the teacher. How can they possibly pool kids with learning disabilities together that communicate in more than one language? How much more confusing does that make it for the children? Are these kids going to try to learn english at the same time as they are trying to overcome speech disabilities? And how much attention is this taking away from the english speaking kids that need the benefits of special ed?

Non-english speaking parents have a responsibility to learn english. How can these kids try to learn english with special challenges when another language is spoken at home? They are stealing resources from english speaking children who need it. INFURIATING! And my grandson isn't even in school yet. When he goes to school here in California I have a feeling the administrators are really not going to like me!