Curb on Arabic Use Urged, but Rejected, in Dearborn District

Superintendent clarifies consultants's recommendation

The Dearborn, Mich., school district's superintendent moved quickly to clarify the system's language policy last week after a consultant said officials should "prohibit the use of any language other than English," except when necessary for communication with parents, at a high school with many students of Arab heritage.

"To do otherwise reinforces a perception by some that [Fordson High School] is an Arab school in America rather than an American school with Arab students," said the report, posted on the Dearborn public schools' Web site earlier this month.

Superintendent Brian Whiston said in an interview last week that it was unfortunate that the report on high school operations, which he had commissioned from the Michigan Leadership Institute, an educational consulting firm based in Mission, Mich., singled out the Arab...