Federal actions justified

By Ricardo Martinez

Why is it so many Latino parents are skeptical about the Denver School Board's new plan for educating our children? Why is it a good idea for the Justice Department to take a close look at Denver's proposal?

Latino parents want their children to learn English. We even have gone to court to demand the board teach English to our youngsters. Our concerns come from the board's history of discrimination, the many holes in its new plan, the politics - states rights/federal-government bashing - being used to sell this plan and, finally, its total refusal to consider the reasonable, fundamental suggestion that literacy in two languages would be a great asset for our children in the 21st century.

The board is a convicted violator of the civil rights of Latino school children. The federal court approved an earlier plan to teach our children English and subject matter using our home language. Denver never lived up to its bargain. Our children perpetually have been cheated of trained teachers and services, and the results, in terms of drop-out rates and academic achievement, should embarrass the board.

Now Denver has a new plan filled with a variety of loopholes, tricky screening questions and no bottom-line achievement standards. One of the superintendent's top assistants bragged, "We are going to shrink the program from 13,000 students down to 3,000." Shrinking saves money, but it also would cheat many students of access to meaningful instruction.

We are skeptical when the superintendent shamefacedly proclaims that he is "standing up to the federal government and will never give in." Not since the days of Alabama Gov. George Wallace standing in the schoolhouse door have we seen such a naked pitch to "states rights" over the rights of minority children. Denver deserves better.

Knowledge of world languages is critical in a growing global economy, yet the board ignores the precious intellectual asset our children bring to school, the ability to speak two languages. It makes no sense for our children to be ethnically cleansed of their Spanish tongue and cultural heritage as the price of their education.

Ricardo Martinez is director of Padres Unidos, a Denver parents' group.

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