Wichita's English-only school sued for discrimination

[Katharine The Grate]

>


Hooray for Adam, his family and their values!   Power to the People!



> There's a new post on the Web of Language:
>
> Wichita's English-only school sued for discrimination
>
> In the Fall of 2007, St. Anne Catholic School in Wichita, Kansas, =20
> instituted an English-only policy for students: no language except =20
> English in class, in the halls, at lunch, or on the playground.
> Adam =20=
>
> Silva, a sixth-grader whose native language is English, and who had
> =20
> attended St. Anne=92s since kindergarten, refused to sign the
> required =20=
>
> English-language loyalty oath because he wanted to speak Spanish =20
> sometimes too, so he was expelled (the school insists that Silva
> left =20=
>
> voluntarily).
>
> Now Silva, his parents, and three other students and their
> families, =20
> are suing St. Anne=92s in federal court for discrimination.  They
> seek =20=
>
> an end to the foreign-language ban, along with Silva=92s
> readmission, =20=
>
> monetary damages, and court costs.
>
> Supporting the students=92 complaint against St. Anne=92s are two =
> letters =20
> that the school distributed about its English-only policy.  The =20
> principal announced that her ban on foreign languages came in
> response =20=
>
> to a few students bullying their classmates in Spanish, and using =20
> Spanish to talk disrespectfully about teachers and staff.  But in
> an =20
> official letter to parents, English-only was re-framed as
> educational, =20=
>
> not punitive: speaking only English on school grounds would
> strengthen =20=
>
> students=92 command of the language so that they could become more =20
> successful.
>
> Students were asked to read and sign a second letter distributed in
> =20
> class which links the English-only rule, not to academic
> achievement, =20=
>
> but to discipline issues like proper behavior during lunch and
> recess. =20=
>
> The last paragraph of this letter notes that the Bishop of Wichita
> has =20=
>
> approved the English-only policy and concludes with a warning to =20
> students to speak English and nothing else, or =93consequences will
> =20
> follow.=94
>
> ... read the rest, including an excerpt from the famous "Babel =20
> Proclamation" of 1918, on the Web of Language
>
> DB

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