Parent complains about school letter in Spanish

WBAL.com

Sandi Henley opened a letter from Anne Arundel County School Superintendent Kevin Maxwell that made her see red. The letter about MSA testing was written in English on one side and Spanish on the other.

“We just felt it was a way of Dr. Maxwell to be politically correct, in two languages Spanish and English,” Henley tells WBAL Radio. She wants the mailings in both languages stopped.

“Our tax dollars are being used to support and fund these sort of things. To what end do you feel a need to have things listed in Spanish,” says Henley.

She and her husband have written a letter to Dr. Maxwell asking questions about the decision.

Anne Arundel County Schools started sending out system wide mailings in both languages back in the fall. Public Information Officer Bob Mosier says the move is a way to inform parents who don’t speak English of what is happening with their child’s education. He says there is a growing population of Hispanics in the county, particularly in the Annapolis area where there is an increase in students requiring ESOL (English as a second language) services.

Parent Sandi Henley says her son’s science textbook also has a Spanish index.

The school system is looking at sending out English and Spanish automated telephone messages when need be as well.

“We are not teaching the children K through 12 in Spanish. This is not a Spanish immersion program or anything like that. This is an effort to communicate with the parents of those students,” says Mosier.

Officials with the State Department of Education say that other school systems in the state have been sending out mailings in different languages. And the website for the state has information in 15 other languages besides English.

Henley says there is a message she hopes to send with her concerns. “This is America. We speak English in America, don’t cater to the minority at the sake of the majority,” says Henley.