Bilingual ed is preserved with charter

Luke Johnson writes a mathematical equation for his class on the overhead projector and then explains, in fluent Spanish, the similarities between "fracciones and decimals." His teacher, Catalina Coello, does not ask him to speak English, nor does she translate.

The student isn't a second language learner - or even Hispanic. But he is bilingual, along with the rest of his classmates, some of whom are Hispanic and some of whom are Anglo.

Bilingual education has been banned in California's public schools since the passage of Proposition 227. But it is alive and well at Cali Calmecac Charter School in Windsor. The K-8 school offers a "dual immersion" program that brings together Spanish-speaking students and English-speaking students in an effort to develop full bilingualism in both groups and promote cross-cultural understanding.

Cali Calmecac is part of the Windsor Unified School District in Sonoma County. The site was converted to charter status in 1997 shortly after voters approved Prop. 227. As a charter school exempt from Education Code requirements, the school was able to preserve its unique program, which has received national recognition for excellence.

Before going charter, the school briefly complied with Prop. 227. "It was hard teaching only in English, even though it was only for a short time," recalls Coello. "It was hard for the children, because they had always seen me as a model for speaking Spanish. I am much happier with things the way they are now. That's why I'm here - because I truly believe this is best for all of the children."

"We felt that we had to go charter because Prop. 227 ignored the research on second language acquisition," says Tomas Acuna, a seventh-grade science teacher. "We felt that going into an English-only situation would be bad, especially for our Spanish-speaking kids, because it puts them at a disadvantage right off the bat with their peers and does not show respect for their culture. Statistics show that Hispanics have a hard time in the educational system. We've been able to turn that around here."

The conversion to charter status had no impact on teachers' membership in the Windsor District Education Association. "Why give up our bargaining power and everything else just because we went charter?" asks Jennifer Martinez, a resource teacher and one of the school's founders. "We were members before the conversion and we stayed members."

The dual immersion program teaches students to read, write and communicate proficiently in both languages. English-speaking students must enter in kindergarten or the first trimester of first grade. Despite its impact on the school's standardized test scores, the district is putting most newly arrived Spanish-speaking students from Mexico in the school.

In grades K-1, all subject matter is taught in Spanish without translation. The students receive oral English language development for about an hour each day. In grades 3-6, instructional time is divided equally between English and Spanish. In grades 7 and 8, students spend a quarter of the day learning in Spanish.

"In other schools, you just learn English," observes Paula Medrano, 12. "Here it's nice that they teach Spanish, too. It's good that both languages are considered important, not just English."

"I feel good that I know Spanish," says Kelsey Louden, 13, a Cali Calmecac student since kindergarten. "When I went to Mexico, I could talk to the people there."

Charter status also allows flexibility in other areas besides language, says Aida Herrera-Keehn, who incorporates art, cooking and music into core subjects in her third-grade Spanish-language arts, science and social studies classes.

While traditional schools seem to be cutting back on the arts to improve test scores, Herrera-Keehn says she enjoys being able to teach in a creative manner - and still teach to the standards. Her students write dialogue and perform plays as part of the language arts curriculum and cook the produce from their school garden for science.

While charter status may allow flexibility, the school is not immune to problems facing other public schools.

Cali Calmecac, a Title I school with 62 percent English language learners, is in the Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools Program, which imposes sanctions on schools that don't increase test scores. In 2001-02, the school did not meet its growth target - but did make significant growth.

Another problem is that the music program faces cutbacks due to declining funds, laments music teacher David Gibney.

"Teachers here have stress just like teachers everywhere," says Martinez. "In both languages."