Reaction in Lawrence to state Board of Education member Connie Morris’ call for putting Spanish-speaking children in English-only classes requires no translation.

“It would appear that she is motivated by something other than what is best for kids,” said Lawrence Supt. Randy Weseman.

“I would say her notions of proper education run contrary to what most recognize as best practice.”

Members of the Lawrence school board as well as the principal of the Lawrence school with the most students who speak English as a second language also questioned the wisdom of Morris’ total-immersion proposal.

Board President Austin Turney said Morris should know better than to recommend a one-size-fits-all approach to education.

“We need a continuum of strategies. Our goal is to have the students at grade level in English as soon as possible. Presumably Ms. Morris would approve the goal,” Turney said.

What she said

Board member Rich Minder, who studied Turkish and French by living in Turkey and France, said the policy question should be left to educators with expertise in language instruction.

“Frankly, I am suspicious of Ms. Morris’ intentions,” he said.

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During a visit Monday to Garden City, Morris said public school districts in Kansas should voluntarily use immersion classes to teach English to Spanish-speaking students or risk intervention by the state. Complete immersion is less expensive than other teaching methods, she said.

She said 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. At the least, she said, pilot programs should be started to test that concept.

“We need to close the gate,” Morris said.

A former elementary school teacher, Morris has a knack for opening the door to controversy. She was elected to the state board in 2002, and said she believed her criticism of illegal immigrants’ right to attend public school resonated with voters.

Another reason?

Minder said it was that kind of talk regarding immigrants that made him suspicious of Morris’ motives on English instruction.

“Given her past record with respect to the access of educational resources for immigrant children and families, I would hope that other opinions on this pedagogical matter would be fully aired before any policy decisions or changes in practice are made locally or statewide,” he said.

Leni Salkind, vice president of the Lawrence school board, said Morris didn’t appear to have a grasp of the complexities of teaching English to a diverse group of schoolchildren.

“Total immersion, the method proposed by Morris, is not the most effective way to teach children a second language,” Salkind said.

Tammy Becker, principal of Hillcrest School, said 54 percent of students at that elementary school are part of the English as a Second Language, or ESL, program. All elementary-age children in the district requiring ESL instruction are transferred to Hillcrest.

Wondering why

The school has students from the United States and 38 other countries. In all, Hillcrest’s students speak 37 languages.

“Our ultimate goal is to try to get them into the regular classroom as much as possible,” Becker said. “But why would we want to require people to give up native languages?”

Becker said it could take a child two or three years to become grounded in the “social” aspects of English. The “academic” elements of the English language can take up to five years to learn, she said.

“Some arrive not knowing English at all,” she said. “They come from all different backgrounds. Some kids are in ESL all the way through elementary school.”

She said Morris’ idea of a one-year cap on an immersion program would be unfair to international students.

“It’s very difficult to learn the English language in one year’s time,” Becker said. “One year? We don’t say … a child has one year to catch up with reading and that’s it.”