Can't ride because they SPEAK English

[JeepMonkey]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/01/11/kicked.off.bus.ap/index.html

Wow! I would think that if you've got a busload of students who are supposed to be learning English that you might want a few students who can speak English to encourage them. Guess that's what I get for thinking. :shock:

 

[dropseys]

Isn't that segregation? They are keeping different races apart why? Wow, ounishment for speaking english. It begins.

 

[JeepMonkey]

I'm sure there's more details to the story that would make it make more sense. Seems to me that it's possibly a private school or something like that. However, that was enough to get their readership up. It's all about the ratings.

 

[southtj]

IIRC the bus was for a school that the kids didn't attend. A non-english speaking school. The school board apologized but still said they will have to take the correct bus.

 

[mingez]

Isn't that segregation? They are keeping different races apart why? Wow, ounishment for speaking english. It begins.

It had nothing to do with their race, it was due to them being English speaking kids getting on the wrong bus. Race and Language aren't the same thing.

The story seems kind of like an overreaction if you ask me.

 

[dropseys]

Sorry, i guess my sarcasm wasn't coming through on computer screen. The only problem I see is the lack of notification to the parents so they could make other arrangements. Seriously, who decides, "starting this morning we have to fix our mistake. Pick these kids up, but this afternoon they can't get back on the bus". They should have given the parents a couple of days notice.

 

[JeepMonkey]

Sorry, i guess my sarcasm wasn't coming through on computer screen. The only problem I see is the lack of notification to the parents so they could make other arrangements. Seriously, who decides, "starting this morning we have to fix our mistake. Pick these kids up, but this afternoon they can't get back on the bus". They should have given the parents a couple of days notice.

I'm sure they probably did give the parents some notice. The parents probably couldn't read the English in which it was sent. :lol:

 

[mingez]

Sorry, i guess my sarcasm wasn't coming through on computer screen. The only problem I see is the lack of notification to the parents so they could make other arrangements. Seriously, who decides, "starting this morning we have to fix our mistake. Pick these kids up, but this afternoon they can't get back on the bus". They should have given the parents a couple of days notice.

That's reasonable, but I wonder if that little detail escaped the story. Did they suggest in the article that proper notice wasn't given?

 

[90Xjay]

public education.............

 

[Sparky-Watts]

St. Paul schools spokeswoman Dayna Kennedy acknowledged Thursday that school officials handled the situation poorly, but said language had nothing to do with the incident. The reason Armstrong's children were ineligible to ride the bus was that they lived outside the school's attendance area, she said.

I don't see the problem here, as far as what language they spoke. However, the spokeswoman goes on to admit that they screwed up by not making sure the kids had a ride home. There's definitely nothing noted in the story to address when or where the mother was allegedly told it was a language issue, so certainly that should have been addressed in the story. The way it appears, it is just an upset mother's attempt at getting someone in trouble, mad because she had to go pick up her kids. Personally, I can't believe, from what I read in the story, that the school would have told her that.

Summary? Poorly written story with unsubstantiated claims from the mother.

 

[TwistedCU]

What happened to no child left behind?!?!?!

They clearly left those two behind :lol:

 

[deesweet]

I thought brown vs the board of ed fixed this. Seriously the school not only segregated ESL students in transportation but in the classroom as well. They call the language segregated classrooms but "academys". These students are seperated in eveyway. It not only sends the wrong message but takes away the opportunity for the ESL students to learn english is in a practical way from native speakers but for the other students to learn from and make friends from different backgrounds.

 

[mingez]

I don't see the problem here, as far as what language they spoke. However, the spokeswoman goes on to admit that they screwed up by not making sure the kids had a ride home. There's definitely nothing noted in the story to address when or where the mother was allegedly told it was a language issue, so certainly that should have been addressed in the story. The way it appears, it is just an upset mother's attempt at getting someone in trouble, mad because she had to go pick up her kids. Personally, I can't believe, from what I read in the story, that the school would have told her that.

Summary? Poorly written story with unsubstantiated claims from the mother.

Exactly. "Perceived injustice".

 

[deesweet]

The fact the mother couldn't follow the rules doesn't change the fact that ESL students and native English speakers are segregated in this district both on the bus and in the classroom. The mom probably over-reacted especially because her kids shouldn't have been going to that school anyway but I don't agree with how that school is handling the influx of ESL students. MSN did a more in depth story. Apparently the segregated learning is new in that district and is intended to deliver better education which is a bunch of crap.