Amy Lacey, the principal fired by the Hempstead school board, finally gets her say. It had been reported that as principal of Hempstead Middle School, Ms. Lacey banned Spanish from the school campus. She explains, “I informed students it would be best to speak English in the classrooms to the extent possible, in order to help prepare them for [state] tests,” she wrote, the Daily Mail reported. “It is important to note that I did not ban the use of Spanish anywhere in the school or at any time. … Teachers had reported to me that they had experienced instances in which students had been asked to stop talking during instruction, and they responded that it was their right to speak Spanish — ignoring the fact that they shouldn’t have been speaking [in any language] during class without permission. The perception of the teachers was that students were being disrespectful and disrupting learning, and they believed they could get away with it by claiming racism.” This is in keeping with Title 19, Texas Administrative Code 89.1201 c,” she wrote, in the Houston Chronicle. That code section, as reported by Inquistir, reads: “English is the basic language of this state. Public schools are responsible for providing a full opportunity for all students to become competent in speaking, reading, writing and comprehending the English language. … The mastery of basic English skills is a prerequisite for effective participation in the state’s educational program. Using English to the extent possible would also allow non-Spanish-speaking teachers a better opportunity to assess understanding and learning.”
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 03:09:51 +0000
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