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Laboy says Teach Them in English
Carrero Says Teach them in Espanol

Lawrence Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy has unveiled a new plan for the bilingual students in Lawrence. The plan will focus the majority of the bilingual resources in the Lawrence Public Schools toward English proficiency and placing students in younger grades into mainstream English classes. Laboy says the priority of the school system is, and should be to teach students in English. Something which has been lacking over the last ten years.

But School Committeeman Ralph Carrero says our schools should teach children (especially those in younger grades) in Spanish and is fighting the superintendent over the new bilingual plan. Carrero specifically objects to the superintendent’s plan to place kindergarten through third grade students in English immersions classes. Carrero says he was never taught Spanish fluency in school and as a result never mastered his "native" language. Carrero has lived in the US since he was two years old. And though he is fluent in English and speaks with no accent, was afforded an opportunity to receive a masters degree in Education and was elected to the local school board three times as the result of his education in English, he is now trying to deny Lawrence’s Hispanic youth the same opportunities of success.

School Committeeman Mike Sweeney says that he supports the Superintendent’s new bilingual plan and believes it is a step in the right direction. "Of course I support Mr. Laboy’s bilingual plan," Sweeney said. "Learning in English is paramount to living a successful life here in the United States. English has always been a priority of mine and there were many nights at that school board table wen I was the only one questioning why we are teaching kindergarten students in Spanish. The superintendent is absolutely right and I support him 100% on this."

Under the Superintendent’s new plan, students in later grades would be placed in transitional programs for no more than three years. After three years elapse, bilingual students will be placed in mainstream classrooms and taught in English. The current bilingual program calls for a three year maximum but Committeeman Carrero amended the policy several years ago to allow students to remain in bilingual longer if they want to. Laboy says the city’s practice of letting Hispanic students learn in their native language has lead to low performance in the Lawrence Public Schools. And he is right!

Lack of proficiency in English has been cited in several State Education reports criticizing the school districts poor performance. It was also cited as a major reason for the loss of accreditation at Lawrence High School. All but one of the Lawrence schools failed the state’s MCAS test earlier this year, even though bilingual students can take the test in Spanish. Lawrence has one of the highest drop out rates in the state and the lowest overall test scores. Despite the proven failure of our bilingual program (teaching children academic subjects in Spanish) over the last ten years, Mr. Carrero continues to insist that we continue teaching in Spanish.

Superintendent Laboy has clearly identified the number one problem in the last ten years as our inability to give Hispanic students a functional knowledge of the English Language. He has not only identified the problem, he has quickly formulated a restructuring of the bilingual program to solve that problem. But Mr. Carrero wants to keep the status quo of teaching in Spanish because he doesn’t want a glaring contrast between his ten years of inaction on the school committee and Superintendent Laboy’s results-oriented solutions after being here only six months. Carrero has said during the last few elections that he favors English being taught in the classroom and it is expected that he will continue to try and mislead the voters once again when election time rolls around this year. Don’t let him get away with it!

Despite what he says at election time, Carrero has a long history of advocating that students be taught in Spanish instead of immersing them in English to make sure they can get into college. In 1996, Carrero refused to support an English test as a graduation requirement for all seniors at Lawrence High School. He finally did vote for the English test in 1998, but only after amending the new policy to exclude bilingual students from taking the test. This completely defeated the purpose of having an English test in the first place.

He refused to support cutting the Spanish GED program. He voted against proposals by other board members who tried to cut all Spanish instruction at the kindergarten level. He refused to support a measure by one school board member to get rid of teachers who cannot speak English when their job description clearly states it as a condition of employment.

And now he wants to be your mayor! Ralph Carrero may speak softly, look and act professional at meetings and give the illusion that he is open minded, but his record on important issues like English has proven that he is more concerned with keeping his friends employed while satisfying the radical Hispanic activists who support him every time he runs. It is clear that Mr. Carrero cares more about his own political future than he does the educational opportunities being denied to your children.

Wilfredo Laboy deserves a medal for having the guts to make such a controversial decision and demanding that our schools teach English in the classroom. Ralph Carrero on the other hand, deserves a medal for being able to fool the voters for almost ten years. One thing for sure, when Carrero knocks on your door and appears at debates during the mayoral election he is going to have a much more difficult time convincing people he believes in English now that he has gone on record opposing English instruction during an election year. I only hope the voters are paying attention and remember this issue when they go to the polls.