Alisal Union School District's troubles go beyond politics

Political turmoil, racking the Alisal Union School District, is keeping leadership from creating a strong curriculum to teach students who are not fluent in English. Specifically, legislation like Proposition 227 puts bilingual education under fire, which sidesteps the need for a solution to the language barrier problem in Salinas. The political backlash that accompany bilingual education programs in the Alisal Union School District have had the effect of thinning staff. Four superintendents have left in the past eight years and 50% of first-year teachers have left in the past four years. More than 40 percent of Alisal students come from migrant farmworker families and move often, following the harvest season. About 93 percent of the district's students are new to the country, and often, those students didn't have formal schooling in their countries of origin. The district has made some academic progress since 2005. However, the progress has not been fast enough to meet federal guidelines set by the No Child Left Behind Act. As a result, Alisal Union School District often ends up facing state sanctions.

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[posted by Andrew Brown]