Garden City ? State Board of Education member Connie Morris said that school districts should voluntarily use total-immersion classes to teach English to students who don’t speak it.

If the districts don’t offer the classes voluntarily, the state would probably have to require them, Morris said Monday during a visit to Garden City.

During a meeting with school officials, she suggested Spanish-speaking students should be taught English through immersion classes, which require students to learn in English with little to no instruction in their native tongue.

“I would never say don’t speak Spanish, but I think it’s something you might want to think about,” Morris told school officials. Studies prove the method’s effectiveness, she said, and it is cheaper than other techniques.

Of the 7,670 students in the Garden City school district, nearly a quarter, most of them Spanish-speakers, receive special instruction such as bilingual or English as a Second Language classes.

James Lentz, superintendent of Garden City schools, told Morris he didn’t think immersion methods were effective.

“I think that’s a disservice to the kids,” he said.

Morris was elected to the state board in November 2002, while criticizing rules that let illegal immigrants study in public schools as a drain on public funds. She also said that limited English-language instruction for non-English speakers ought to end after a year, with students placed in mainstream classes after that, regardless of their level of preparation.

“We’re doing an extraordinary service, but we need to close the gate,” Morris said Monday. She said her opinions resounded with many voters in the 2002 vote.

Kraig Dexter, interim principal at Garden City High School, said the school district studied various methods to teach students who don’t speak English before choosing bilingual instruction, ESL classes and other techniques. Of the high school’s 1,985 students, 200 receive ESL instruction.

“We really take the time to make sure the kids comprehend the language,” he said. When using immersion, he added, “kids don’t do well.”

Nonetheless, Morris said she would like school districts to put in place pilot programs to test the effectiveness of immersion methods. Otherwise, if such change occurs it is “going to have to happen on the state level.”