Education News in Brief

Ariz. District Plans to Defy State Law on English Instruction

By Mary Ann Zehr — June 04, 2008 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

After seeking advice from the office for civil rights of the U.S. Department of Education, officials from the Sahuarita Unified School District in Arizona have decided to defy a state law that calls for giving students who are new to English four hours of language instruction each day.

The district plans to exclude English-language learners who are in secondary school from the program required for next fall, said Barbara Smith, the director of student services for the 4,700-student district.

If ELLs spend four hours a day studying only English, she said, “it prevents them from taking all the coursework to graduate that non-English-language-learners have a right to take.” Ms. Smith said her school district is in its sixth year of carrying out an agreement with the office for civil rights to improve services for ELLs. She said OCR officials based in Denver had advised her not to implement the program at the secondary level.

A spokesman for the Department of Education said the OCR had made no such determination.

A version of this article appeared in the June 04, 2008 edition of Education Week

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Briefly Stated: March 13, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 21, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 7, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: January 31, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read