District may join push for English

San Jose Merc ^ | 1/26/05 | S.L. Wykes

[Citizen James]

Mountain View, CA -

Mountain View school officials announced on Tuesday a sweeping plan to restructure the city's financially troubled elementary schools by closing a school, shuffling students, relocating special programs and immersing many young pupils into English-only classes.

The proposal would shutter Slater Elementary School and dramatically remake Castro Elementary, where three out of four students are considered not proficient in English.

The shift of students would affect every one of the district's remaining six elementary schools when classes resume in August.

Teachers, parents and students reacted with surprise and shock to Superintendent Eleanor Yick's announcement, which the school board will consider Thursday night and may vote on by Feb. 3.

``We assumed a school would close,'' said teachers union President Sally Topete, ``but we didn't know how much it would affect everything.''

District leaders blamed declining enrollment and financial woes for the need to close a popular neighborhood school, increasingly common in the Bay Area as families flee for more affordable housing in the Central Valley.

Not only does the district's consolidation follow in the footsteps of other closings statewide, but it also shares a new emphasis on English language instruction that many districts are adopting to conform with tougher standards.

Under its plan, Mountain View-Whisman would turn Castro Elementary School into an English-only school for preschoolers through second-grade and move the school's English-Spanish immersion courses to Landels Elementary.

[Citizen James]

No, the school is not named after that Castro! At least, I think so (this is the Bay Area after all).

The proposal would shutter Slater Elementary School and dramatically remake Castro Elementary, where three out of four students are considered not proficient in English.

Not proficient in English??? Well, it sorta' helps when you TEACH THEM IN ONE LANGUAGE (English) to begin with.

``We assumed a school would close,'' said teachers union President Sally Topete, ``but we didn't know how much it would affect everything.''

Funny how the union president is more upset about the English only classes than about the fact that a school is closing. She's really got her priorities straight < /sarc >.

[Citizen James]

Click here for Bay Area News Pings!

[RobbyS]

Now you know what issues are important to the NEA/AFT.

[skr]

Even if it's a perfectly nice and capitalistic Castro that this school is named for, it's an odd choice considering the first person that comes to mind for the vast majority of people.

[Citizen James]

http://www.castro.mvsd.k12.ca.us/about.htm

This will probably upset their webmaster (PC government school alert)...

[Simmy2.5]

What's funny though is, a number of schools in the Bay Area have the name Castro. When I first saw the school name, I thought I recognized the name. Except what I was thinking wasn't Castro Elemetary School in Mountain View, but Castro Middle School in San Jose.

As for this school, AWSOME! And this coming from a Bay Area school even better!

[Clovis_Skeptic]

Guillermo Castro was the owner of the vast Mexican land grant Rancho San Lorenzo. He grazed his cattle in the land we now call Castro Valley. After Ca became part of the US, Castro began to sell off his land to pay gambling debts.

[Dashing Dasher]

Dual Immersion Program?

In the Dual Immersion Program, native English-speaking students and native Spanish-speaking students are united in the same classroom, where they learn both languages while maintaining high academic achievement in the core subjects. Students in the Dual Immersion Program:

* Demonstrate superior academic achievement in Spanish and English
* Attain comprehensive fluency and literacy in Spanish and English
* Develop high self-esteem and confidence
* Embrace and prepare for the diversity of a multicultural world

The Dual Immersion Program involves students from kindergarten through 5th grade. In primary grades students receive instruction predominately in Spanish which creates native-like fluency and skills that transfer to English. Language instruction is balanced in the upper grades promoting biliteracy and academic achievement.

[CyberAnt]

"and immersing many young pupils into English-only classes"

There was a law passed - how many years ago - that only English was to be taught. The reason was that these liberal idiots kept the hispanic children from speaking and learning English so they could keep them from getting jobs and thereby continue to keep them down on the farm. When Hispanic families began to complain - finally a law was passed and even though some teachers resisted - most of them saw a marked improvement in the students grades and in student's attendance at school. The liberals have been hyperventilating ever since. They were happier graduating a whole generation of hispanics who could barely speak or read English.

[Citizen James]

If you haven't already, check out their "about statement:"

One of the largest and finest schools in the city of Mountain View, Mariano Castro Elementary School hosts a multi-lingual, multi-ethnic population of students. The nearby community and diverse student body represent a rich and varied cultural population with more than twenty-one languages spoken on our campus.

In 2004 the school had 438 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, with an average class size of 20.59.

At the Castro Language Academy, we celebrate the diverse cultures and languages of our students. We advocate promoting bilingualism both at home and at school as a positive value to individuals and society. We also believe it is critical that all students develop a mastery of English as they acquire knowledge in all subject areas.



Looks like they threw the parents a bone in the last sentence.

Then check out their homepage; it's bilingual...