Imperial County does a good job of educating its English-language learners. In a state with 1.4 million of them, we’d wager we do it better than most.
How could that not be the case, even with the financial struggles of the school district themselves around here, when English-language learners make up the majority of our students, as Hispanics make up the majority of our residents in the county?
You could argue addressing such struggles is local schools’ bread and butter, or tortillas con mantequilla, as it were. Districts like Calexico Unified, for example, have as many as 85 percent of their students classified as such.
Honestly, we can even wrap our heads around the American Civil Liberties Union of California threatening a lawsuit against the state Department of Education for what it says is a lapse in monitoring that has led to more than 20,000 English-language learners not receiving the services and specialized instruction due them.
That kind of education is a way of life down here, for everyone involved in the educational process.
We believe the programs we have in place through individual districts and the Imperial County Office of Education are doing such great things that this area, for its demographics, its results and its heart, should be a model of how it gets done.
That kind of mindset and those best practices were on full display this weekend during the fourth annual Migrant Education Program Region 6 Speech and Debate tournament held Saturday at Southwest High School.
Young Migrant Ed students from middle school through high school took part in preparing to argue both sides of an issue in extemporaneous speeches and prepared speeches.
These students, many of whom either have been or currently are English-language learners are proof-positive that fine education programs, hard-working and talented teachers, students, administrators and parents make a difference and get results.
Unfortunately, as is often the case with ACLU lawsuits and press conferences, the cause is being championed on behalf of a very few. These 20,000 students falling through the cracks represent about 2 percent of the overall English-language learning population.
By and large, the state of California is doing a pretty good job with its English-language learners. Imperial County is just doing what we believe to be that much better.
THE ISSUE:
Migrant Ed stages debate.
WE SAY:
Proof that county does a good job with English-language learners.
WHAT DO YOU SAY?
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