Posted on 08/15/2008 8:05:52 PM PDT by kellynla
WICHITA, KN -- A lawsuit boiling in Wichita, Kansas over an English-only policy could have major ramifications for a Catholic school.
Saint Anne's Catholic school, its principal, the church and the diocese are being sued for implementing an English only policy at school.
When some students refused to sign a pledge to honor the policy they were expelled and their parents filed suit.
Three families are suing alleging that the policy discriminates against those who speak other languages and lawyers for the families say it's racial discrimination and therefore violates their civil rights.
The school says the policy was a response to problems in school environment, saying that if a student uses a language other than English to speak ill of others that it's not fair.
Supporters of the school are troubled by the lawsuit and point out that students who attend Saint Anne's do so by choice.
All of the families in this case are legal immigrants or American citizens.
The case is expected to conclude by Friday.
ping
So now language is race, religion is race, lack of experience is race...
Well at least it isn't a bunch of illegals suing (yet).
I guess this is the sort of thing that happens when Catholic political leaders are merely nominal: predators of Catholic institutions must feel quite unalarmed by any repercussions.
Yeah, I don't see how the racism charge is going to fly.
Somebody call up the ACRU.
(Yes, I know not the ACLU. ACRU is on our side)
This dimwit writer for KXLY doesn’t even know KS is for Kansas - what the hell is KN???????????? Oy.
1) It isn’t discrimination if the student already speaks English as either a first or second language.
2) It isn’t racism as language and race are not linked.
It's the 57th state.
“The school says the policy was a response to problems in school environment, saying that if a student uses a language other than English to speak ill of others that it’s not fair.”
Not that I side with the plaintiffs in this case, but this defense, the “people might be talking about other students behind their backs” defense is really very stupid. How about just English is the language of life and commerce in this country. In order for the students to be successful in their lives they must speak English and we will only speak English in this school so that they have lots of practice toward total proficiency.
KN: Know-Nothing.
In this day and age you do not know what folks are talking about if they don't speak English and that can be trouble in certain circumstances.
I sometimes think they remove the brains from law school students; but a policy that treats everyone the same without regard to their racial category can not violate even a lawyers intentional misinterpretation of the law.
I agree this could be a problem. I suspect the issue was that some kids who spoke other than English were using that as a way to torment other kids. I saw this with some of my Spanish speakers (girls in this case) when I was teaching HS. They would come in, group and then talk about the other girls in Spanish. They made it quite plain what they were doing. Unfortunately, they didn’t know that I spoke just enough Spanish and was familiar with a handful of bad words. I looked at them and said, “You will NEVER again use those words in my classroom.” They were shocked, but I never had another moment’s worth of trouble from them.
susie
Catholic school is a private operation and they can set their rules. No one has to go to one. No one is forced to pay tuition. Don't like the rules? There's the door. First amendment rules don't apply -- ask anyone that tries to run a "free" newspaper.
OR the courts could rule against the Catholic school, admitting that in some way it is a public accommodation. If that's the case, every other parent in the school should sue for voucher money so that their child can afford to attend a public accommodation.
Catholic school is not a public school. They had to know the policy before the applied.
Kentucky?
They should at least offer LSL classes. (Latin as a Second Language).
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