Editorial: A shortsighted policy

Friday, Dec. 21, 2007 | 7:22 a.m.

Esmeralda County School District Superintendent Robert Aumagher has barred about a dozen Tonopah High School students from speaking Spanish on the school bus and at school.

A story Wednesday by the Las Vegas Sun says Aumagher imposed the policy on students from Dyer, a small farming community about 70 miles west of Tonopah.

In an Oct. 12 letter to the students' parents - most of whom are Hispanic immigrants - Aumagher said although it may "be more comfortable for (students) to speak their native language," such comfort might not be "what is in their best interest."

Rita Gillum, an Esmeralda County School Board member who favors the ban, told Sun reporter Timothy Pratt that the letter stems from an incident in which the bus driver and a tutor who was riding the bus felt some teens were deriding them in Spanish. Although no one seemed to know for sure what the students said, Gillum says speaking Spanish could be seen as "disrespectful" if the adults on the bus have "no idea what they (the students) were talking about."

One parent told the Sun that Dyer's Spanish-speaking children often assist their English-speaking classmates with Spanish homework, and vice versa. It is a shame that a school superintendent would impose such a sweeping policy that would interfere with students who are helping one another.

A number of the students affected have lived in the United States fewer than two years and still are trying to get the hang of English - as are their parents. Oddly, in seeking to impose this shortsighted policy, the district translated the letter into Spanish to make certain the parents could read it.

English-only policies, which have been struck down in numerous communities across the nation, are mean-spirited and bigoted and serve no useful purpose in fostering understanding or promoting English skills. They only divide communities.

It is important for immigrants to learn English to succeed in the United States. Previous generations of immigrants from Germany, Poland and other nations were aware of this, and today's immigrants of Hispanic descent are aware of this as well. They don't need policies such as the misguided one imposed in Esmeralda County to remind them.