Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Kids kicked off a bus for speaking English
ktsp.com ^ | 01/09/2007 | staff

Posted on 01/09/2007 9:06:29 PM PST by Nachum

Imagine sending your kids off to school, but when they get to the bus they are told they can't get on because they speak English.

That's right, English.

It happened to a few children in St. Paul and now the school district is apologizing.

Rachel Armstrong sent her kids to pick up the bus as usual Monday, but after the driver let the kids on, he told them he would not pick them up again. He even said he wouldn't take them home that afternoon.

Armstrong left work early Tuesday, forced to pick up her kids from Phalen Lake Elementary School.

Her twin girls, 10, and her son, 8, were kicked off their regular school bus. They were told by the bus driver the route is for non-English speaking students only.

"I was furious. I was at work and I was just mad." Armstrong said. "I felt like we were being discriminated because we speak English. Just because they speak English, they can't ride the school bus. I mean, this is America, right?"

Administrators at St. Paul Public Schools admit the district made a mistake when it stranded the kids at school Monday.

However, the district points out, that particular bus route serves one of three language academies. The one at Phalen Lake is for Hmong students learning English.

The academies all have separate bus routes to keep its students together.

The district decided to enforce the separate routes beginning Monday, but it did not tell the Armstrong family.

"It is our responsibility to ensure the safety of these kids and we made a mistake. The kids should have gotten home that day," Dayna Kennedy, public relations representative.

The district also discovered the Armstrongs no longer live in the Phalen Lake School boundary because they moved last year.

So even thought the district apologized, if they want to still go to Phalen, they are going to have to get their own ride.


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Minnesota
KEYWORDS: aclumia; aliens; balkanization; bus; campuscommies; campusradicals; discrimination; education; english; invasionusa; kids; multiculturism; noenglishspokenhere; publicschools; publikskoolz; reverseracism; speaking; taxdollarsatwork; thoughtcrime; youpayforthis
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-110 next last
To: lentulusgracchus
Individuals benefit by being polyglot...

That's the flip side. The English-speaking kids were benefiting by being immersed in a second language on the bus ride.

61 posted on 01/10/2007 6:31:29 AM PST by elli1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: sodpoodle

Thank you.


62 posted on 01/10/2007 6:36:06 AM PST by Michael.SF. (It's time our lawmakers paid more attention to their responsibilities, and less to their privileges.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: Michael.SF.
I agree. You called it well.

My take:

The bus driver tried to explain to the kids that it was the wrong bus. One of his explanations was: "If you can speak English, this is the wrong bus for you."

That's what they told their parents, and their parents went off.

It would be interesting to learn if people that were actually in the district were notified of the change. Maybe these particular parents had no clue because they're not in the district. Maybe their kids forgot to give their parents the handout. Who knows.

One thing is clear: this article was written to be reactionary, and it obviously worked.

How dare you try to inject logic into everyone's rant?? ;-)

63 posted on 01/10/2007 7:07:41 AM PST by Egon (I stand beside you as your partner, in front as your defender, behind as... hey! nice butt!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 62 | View Replies]

To: Nachum
WOW ... Who would have thunk it

Liberals are now for segregation
64 posted on 01/10/2007 7:49:50 AM PST by Mo1 (PLEASE SUPPORT FREE REPUBLIC AND DONATE)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Michael.SF.
"Somehow, I picture a liberal headline writer saying to his buddies: "Watch what kind of reaction this one gets from the right wing nut jobs!"

And somehow I picture you to be just such a liberal agitator. After all, what else do liberals have to do but cause trouble in America?

These kids were told by the driver that his bus was for 'non English speaking students only', and that they would not be getting a ride home from him, and that they would not be picked up again by him. They were twin girls aged 10 and a boy aged 8. This was a monumental act of negligence for causing a serious safety issue for these little kids, and a potential civil rights violation. Underlying this moronic action by the bus driver are the usual liberal suspects, namely, multiculturalism, reverse discrimination and a politically correct mentality that has caused dementia in the American mind .

65 posted on 01/10/2007 8:06:16 AM PST by TheCrusader
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Nachum

"The one at Phalen Lake is for Hmong students learning English."

Why do they not have an English only rule? What good is it if the kids learning english don't use it outside the classroom? What if the kids want to practice english on the school bus?

So many idiot bearucrats, so little time.


66 posted on 01/10/2007 8:07:21 AM PST by CSM (We're not losing our country, some are just throwing it away. - Sherri-D)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Nachum
They were told by the bus driver the route is for non-English speaking students only.

WTF?? This country is going to balkanize if we don't stop this.

Maybe that's what democrats want?

67 posted on 01/10/2007 8:07:33 AM PST by Centurion2000 (Judges' orders cannot stop determined criminals. Firearms and the WILL to use them can.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: word_warrior_bob

Back when we had fountains there were black only and white only labels on them; bathrooms too, I know, I almost wet my pants at a Greyhound bus stop in Georgia in 1962 heading to Florida because they wouldn't let me in the closest restroom because it was for "Coloreds."


68 posted on 01/10/2007 8:08:04 AM PST by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: EndWelfareToday

What BS. Far too many people are incapable of teaching ANYTHING.


69 posted on 01/10/2007 8:08:26 AM PST by justshutupandtakeit (If you believe ANYTHING in the Treason Media you are a fool.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: familyop

The family moved outside the school's area. If you live outside a school's area, you are not entitled to a bus ride there and back.


70 posted on 01/10/2007 8:10:03 AM PST by Xenalyte (Anything is possible when you don't understand how anything happens.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: NobleEagle2004

in MN? I always thought they spoke nordic, ya?


71 posted on 01/10/2007 8:11:08 AM PST by absolootezer0 (stop repeat offenders - don't re-elect them!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

If it were your kid, we'd be mocking you for thinking your child deserves to get a ride to a school you moved outside the zone for.


72 posted on 01/10/2007 8:13:18 AM PST by Xenalyte (Anything is possible when you don't understand how anything happens.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

Comment #73 Removed by Moderator

To: 1COUNTER-MORTER-68
I bet somebody gets "Burned" over this crap!!...

Nobody is gonna get burned for this crap. The victims were English speaking Americans. If anything they are the ones who should be punished. How dare we speak our own language in our own country. /s
74 posted on 01/10/2007 8:14:49 AM PST by HOTTIEBOY ("dingleberry" LOL! You guys crack me up.....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

Comment #75 Removed by Moderator

To: Graybeard58

"Everybody seems to have missed the truly abusive situation going on here. Busses are damn'd heavy and children shouldn't be made to pick them up."

I don't care who you are, that thar is funny! Thanks for the laugh!


76 posted on 01/10/2007 8:19:58 AM PST by CSM (We're not losing our country, some are just throwing it away. - Sherri-D)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: UWconservative
ACLU Headquarter:

"Sir, heres a wire that says some children were kicked off a bus because they don't speak the language"


"The horrors!!! Send in the lawyers immediately!! How dare they discriminate on the basis of national origin!! This is an outrage!! This is racism!! These children deserve to be treated with respect no matter where they come from. Prosecute those responsible!!"

"Um, sir? They were American kids who speak English."

"Well that changes everything. How dare they try to impute their language on to these poor immigrants. The immigrants are allowed to practice their culture. Prosecute those American bigots immediately"
77 posted on 01/10/2007 8:24:05 AM PST by HOTTIEBOY ("dingleberry" LOL! You guys crack me up.....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: NobleEagle2004

Arabic will be instituted only after Muslims start beheading a few more Americans. Then the libs will cave-in and make Arabic mandatory. /Sarcasm but not unlikely in the not too distant future. (Assuming libs take control of America's body politic)


78 posted on 01/10/2007 8:29:43 AM PST by daviscupper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Michael.SF.
They were not "kicked off" for "speaking English".
People really need to read this more closely before getting to excited about it.
Somehow, I picture a liberal headline writer saying to his buddies: "Watch what kind of reaction this one gets from the right wing nut jobs!"

.

OK, this nut job read in the article where they claimed they were our of district since they moved and needed to get a ride themselves to the school if they still wanted to attend.

Now I can (just being a dumb right wing nut) assume several things. One is that they still can be taught normal English subjects at this school and are not prevented to attend. Second since the bus when right by their house, that the bus was picking up it's PC subjects just fine right where they were. I assume the bus did pick up Hmong students that far out, but not English students.

79 posted on 01/10/2007 9:02:08 AM PST by LowOiL (Paul wrote, "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil" (Rom. 12:9))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Xenalyte
The family moved outside the school's area. If you live outside a school's area, you are not entitled to a bus ride there and back.

Yet the bus was there picking up students? Something is fishy, you don't drive where you don't pick up students.

80 posted on 01/10/2007 9:05:48 AM PST by LowOiL (Paul wrote, "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil" (Rom. 12:9))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 70 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-110 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson