Spanish program upsets father

By Janet Jacobs

November 02, 2006 09:51 am

— Bobby Bell is angry about immigration, and he’s going to take his daughter, a kindergartner at Bowie Elementary, out of school over his convictions.
At issue is a Bowie Elementary program to teach Spanish to younger children. Along with their numbers, letters and colors, young students at Bowie are taught Spanish names for months of the year, simple nouns, numbers and colors. Bell’s daughter is not excluded from the lessons, although he objects to it.
The effort to put Spanish in elementary school is a proactive effort to get kids familiar with foreign language while they’re still young. State law requires students seeking the standard diploma to have two years of foreign language in high school, and three years for an honors diploma.
Bell claims it’s just confusing to his daughter.
“There’s no law that says a kindergarten child has to learn another language,” he said. “I honestly believe she’s confused.
“How come I can’t have an English-speaking teacher, if they exist?” Bell demanded.
Upset about the number of illegal immigrants in the country, Bell has also refused to allow his daughter to say the pledge of allegiance in school as a protest over the U.S. government’s lack of immigration enforcement, a request the school honored.
When he realized his daughter was learning Spanish, or “Mexican,” as he often calls it, he asked for another teacher, or even a transfer to Fannin Elementary, which doesn’t have the enrichment program.
Corsicana school district officials refused.
Bell took his complaint to the school board last week, and the board considered the matter in closed session because it was deemed a personnel issue. The board took no action.
“The school board did hear his concern, and his request for a transfer, but the board chose to stand behind the enrichment offered in that classroom,” said Kristin Zastoupil, spokeswoman for the district.
“The class we’re talking about is not an ESL (English as a Second Language) class,” Zastoupil said. “The teacher spends about five minutes a day going over Spanish words for enrichment.”
The district cites several reasons for refusing the transfer, including the timing of a move in the middle of a semester, and the lack of space at the receiving school. However, Fannin officials said they had two openings at the kindergarten level. Ultimately, however, it came down to what the district wanted for the student.
“We felt like the student was in the best place possible,” Zastoupil said.
The parent may apply for a transfer again next year, when his daughter will start first grade, she said.
Corsicana has about 40 requests for transfers each year, of which about 14 were granted this year. The requests to transfer students into Bowie far outnumber all other requests received, according to school officials.
Bowie Elementary is the only Corsicana school with a Recognized rating from the state.
Bell now says he will remove his daughter from school, and teach her and her two younger sisters at home. Bell is a single parent who works in a warehouse.
“I guess I’m going to have to (homeschool) them everyday when I get off work,” he said. “It’s more important that our American children learn proper English first, before they learn any other languages.”
Other homeschool parents say teaching children at home is not something to take lightly, although it’s feasible with family and other support.
“It’s a full-time job, just like being a mom,” said Jennifer Worsham, who has homeschooled her daughter here in Navarro County for the last five years.
A homeschooling parent can work and teach, with the help of other adults, she said.
“I’ve worked, and it’s a challenge,” Worsham said. “But I also have the support of my husband and my mother, who lives with us. I do rely on my family for support.”
Worsham added that she supports learning Spanish.
“It’s great to learn Spanish no matter where you go to school,” she said.
Bell said that even if he gets in trouble with truancy laws he will stand by his decision.
“I’ll go to jail for my convictions,” he said.
“What they’re doing is wrong.”
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Janet Jacobs may be contacted via e-mail at jacobs@corsicanadailysun.com