Some Dallas Principals Must Learn Spanish

Some administrators in Dallas will be required to learn Spanish, under a policy approved by the school board.

The new policy, approved on a 5-4 vote last month, requires that all elementary school principals who work in schools in which at least half the students are English-language learners, or formerly carried that designation, must learn the native language of those students.

In Dallas, where 65 percent of the school system’s 160,000 students are Hispanic, that basically means some principals must learn Spanish. Those administrators have one year from now to enroll in Spanish courses and three years to become “proficient,” which isn’t defined in the policy adopted Aug. 25. The district will...