SANTA ANA : Schools to Review Bilingual Programs

The Santa Ana Unified School District, where two-thirds of the students have only limited English-language skills, has decided to create a task force to review its bilingual education programs.

Under a proposal approved Tuesday, the district will assemble a 25-member committee of teachers, instructional assistants, parents and administrators from elementary and secondary school levels. The task force will work to improve education for an increasing number of students with limited English-language proficiency, with subcommittees focusing on staff training, parental involvement, curriculum and instruction and assessment of student language skills.

“Last year, we had 2,134 new LEP (limited-English proficiency) students. These changes in demographics prompt us to look at our programs and identify those who are working well, as well as those who we need to attend more to,” said Edward Lee Vargas, assistant superintendent for support services.

The proposal calls for task force members to be chosen from a pool of applicants in May, with members of the full committee and subcommittees meeting in following months. Final recommendations would be expected at the end of the year.

The board voted 4-1 in favor of the proposal, with trustee Rosemarie Avila dissenting.

She said Wednesday that although she supports the creation of the task force, she objected to the proposed committee structure, saying that the inclusion of administrators could deter some committee members from speaking freely, and that waiting six months for recommendations was too long.

However, she agreed that reviewing the district’s bilingual instruction now is crucial. “It’s time to talk about it. I think discussing if what we’re doing is successful is overdue.”