'Talking while Spanish' on trial in Wichita

Sat Aug 16 22:12:09 UTC 2008

 From today's /Wichita Eagle/:

    PARENTS HAD SUED OVER POLICY

  School prevails in English-only lawsuit

        BY RON SYLVESTER

        The Wichita Eagle

Attorney Ross Hollander and Clara Silva talk to the media on Friday, 
August 15, 2008. 
<http://media.kansas.com/smedia/2008/08/15/16/276-081508silva_jt1.standalone.prod_affiliate.80.jpg>
Jeff Tuttle/The Wichita Eagle
Attorney Ross Hollander and Clara Silva talk to the media on Friday, 
August 15, 2008.
Father Thomas Leland talks to the media on Friday, August 15, 2008. 
<http://media.kansas.com/smedia/2008/08/15/16/847-081508silva_jt2.standalone.prod_affiliate.80.jpg> 

    Today's most-viewed stories

    * School prevails in English-only lawsuit
      <http://www.kansas.com/213/story/495943.html>
    * Teen critically hurt after being hit by car at party
      <http://www.kansas.com/197/story/496299.html>
    * Latest developments in the Machinists strike
      <http://www.kansas.com/799/story/494740.html>
    * OPINION LINE <http://www.kansas.com/208/story/495759.html>
    * Judge: English-only policy didnt create hostile environment
      <http://www.kansas.com/690/story/495400.html>

A federal judge ruled Friday that a Wichita Catholic school policy 
requiring students to speak only English didn't break any civil rights laws.

But U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten criticized both sides in the 
lawsuit for the way they handled the conflict and characterized St. Anne 
Catholic School's implementation of its English-only policy as "one-sided."

"It has divided a school, its church and congregation," Marten said. "It 
has divided the Hispanic community in its congregation. And it has 
touched a nerve in this community and across the nation."

But Marten said the policy didn't rise to the level of a "hostile 
educational environment" -- the legal standard applying to this case -- 
and denied a request from three Hispanic families to end the practice at 
St. Anne.

See <http://www.kansas.com/news/story/495943.html>.

Dennis Baron wrote:
> There's a new post on the Web of Language 
> <http://illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage>:
>
> ''Talking while Spanish' on trial in Wichita
>
> In 2007, St. Anne School, a Wichita Catholic elementary school ordered 
> its students 
> <http://illinois.edu/blog/view?blogId=25&topicId=1119&count=1&ACTION=VIEW_TOPIC_DIALOGS&skinId=286> to 
> speak only English while on school grounds. Students and parents were 
> asked to sign forms 
> <http://www.english.uiuc.edu/-people-/faculty/debaron/wolimages/wichitaexa.jpg>acknowledging 
> the new policy.
>
> A separate letter to students signed by the principal, Sister Margaret 
> Nugent, threatened consequences for noncompliance, and several 
> students who didn't sign were expelled.
>
>  
>
> Three families whose students were expelled then sued St. Anne's in 
> federal court 
> <http://illinois.edu/blog/view?blogId=25&topicId=1899&count=1&ACTION=VIEW_TOPIC_DIALOGS&skinId=286> to 
> reverse the school's English-only policy and decriminalize "talking 
> while Spanish."
>
>  
>
> At the trial, which began in Wichita earlier this week 
> <http://www.ksn.com/news/local/26886649.html>, one student became so 
> emotional while testifying about the discrimination he faced for 
> speaking Spanish that the judge had to call a recess. Later the same 
> day, the student's mother told the court about a hate-filled email, 
> written by a student and sent to other students and parents, telling 
> Hispanics to go home if they didn't like the new language policy.
>
>  
>
> Although the school already had a no-bullying policy, Sr. Nugent 
> testified <http://www.ksn.com/news/local/26967764.html> that she 
> implemented the English-only policy to stop students from using 
> Spanish to bully children and make derogatory comments about the 
> staff. The principal didn't indicate why the "go back where you came 
> from" email was not considered bullying.
>
>  
>
> WKSN, Wichita's NBC affiliate, reported the trial on the air and 
> on its web site <http://www.ksn.com/news/local/26967764.html>, and 
> allowed readers to comment. Responses show that language choice is an 
> emotional issue, one that reflects attitudes about immigrants and 
> cocnern about who gets to make the rules.
>
>  
>
> Support for the school ranged from "it's a private school, they can do 
> what they want" to arguments where "we" (true-blue American speakers 
> of English who, even though "we" are the descendants of immigrants, 
> are tired of the self-serving demands of immigrants) are invariably 
> opposed to "them" (ungrateful and unpatriotic foreigners unwilling to 
> make an effort to assimilate and who talk about "us" in a language we 
> can't understand):
>
> read what WKSN viewers actually said, and why they felt "talking while 
> Spanish" is either a crime, or a conspiracy to commit a crime, on the 
> Web of Language <http://illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage>
> *
> *
> ____________________
> Dennis Baron
> Professor of English and Linguistics
> Department of English                    
> University of Illinois 
> 608 S. Wright St.
> Urbana, IL 61801                                               
>
> office: 217-244-0568
> fax: 217-333-4321
>
> http://illinois.edu/goto/debaron
>
> read the Web of Language:
> http://illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

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