When Students Can’t Be Taught in English

Re “Dual-Language Classes Train for Diversity,” Sept. 3:

Regardless of the success touted by the Santa Ana Unified School District of the dual-immersion program in Jefferson and King elementary schools in Santa Ana, their test scores, and the scores of the entire district, are still among the lowest in the county. A lot of us with school-age children are beginning to believe that the district’s determined support for bilingual education may be a major part of the problem, and that board member Nativo V. Lopez is the power behind the program.

Lopez’s push in the district for bilingual waivers has resulted in a situation where some neighborhood elementary schools offer absolutely no classes in English until fourth grade, and parents wanting English instruction find they can’t transfer their children to other schools because of overcrowding. When American children are unable to receive instruction in English, the language of their choice and the language of their country, it becomes obvious that the law passed under Proposition 227 is actively being undermined, regardless of his denial.

John and Lucy Bateson

Santa Ana