Editorial: Alisal Union School District has to regain our trust | thecalifornian.com | The Salinas Californian

Editorial: Alisal Union School District has to regain our trust | thecalifornian.com | The Salinas Californian

Editorial: Alisal Union School District has to regain our trust

APRIL 3, 2010

The climate of "intimidation" and dysfunction that led to a state takeover of the Alisal Union School District in Salinas has somewhat subsided for now.

An emergency interim superintendent is in place and in charge.

Though the California Education Code has some gray areas pertaining to a state intervention in cases like this, this temporary chief has authority — from this point forward — to deny or rescind any school board action taken without her consent.

In other words, the Alisal board cannot act on its own. It's a blow to the concept of local control of neighborhood schools, but a necessary one until the district leadership can prove it is capable of running things orderly and efficiently. Tragically, that has not been the case. In the past month, the Alisal board's three remaining members have operated in a vacuum, pushing a biased, politically charged agenda, keeping their negotiations not only from administrators but also from the public, refusing to talk to the news media and raising serious questions about how they're spending the district's money.

The state announced in February that it will assign a trustee to Alisal. That appointment is still scheduled for May. At that time, the state concluded that the district was "broken" and was failing to improve academic performance in at least two of its schools, which had been placed on the state list of lowest performing

Alisal Union School District's troubles go beyond politics

District's tug-of-war keeps leadership from setting clear direction on English learning

Julio Xirum sits quietly, looking at a blank sheet of paper and trying to write a sentence.

"The girl eats a book," the fourth-grader tells his teacher before writing.

"No, Julio. It's 'the girl reads a book,' " his teacher points out as she explains that he used the wrong verb.

"Reeeads," he answered on a recent Friday morning.

Julio moved to Salinas last May from Chichicastenango, Guatemala, with very little schooling. His parentsenrolled him at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academy a few months ago.

Helping students like Julio learn English and closing the achievement gap between English learners and white students is difficult. Statewide, the very concept of teaching children in Spanish is under attack. More than a decade ago, California voters approved Proposition 227, which requires English-learning students to be taught "overwhelmingly in English."

Now, the political turmoil racking the Alisal Union School District is keeping leadership from creating a strong curriculum to teach these students.

More than 69 percent of AUSD students are English learners. Of all public school districts in California, AUSD has the 15th-highest percentage of English learners — higher than two districts near the U.S.-Mexico border, including Calexico Unified School District.Alisal Union School District on Dipity.

Of the number of English learners in AUSD, 50.7 percent are taught primarily in Spanish, according to data