These kids should do what I do when everyone around me speaks a foreign language: SPEAK ENGLISH REALLY REALLY LOUD.

that's a flippin' swith.

that's a flippin' switch.

This is just freaking incredible! I mean it just seems waaay too weird to actually hear that there are schools that taxpayers pay for that will not allow white English speaking American children. Is it just me,the Martinez family or is there something wrong here?

Agro

english is the AMERICAN language! USE IT! geeze, its not that hard. She should be able to get her boys into any school she wants to! they shouldnt be split up because of some stupid "spanish only" BS. :/ thats just my opinion though!

english is the AMERICAN language! USE IT! geeze, its not that hard. She should be able to get her boys into any school she wants to! they shouldnt be split up because of some stupid "spanish only" BS. :/ thats just my opinion though!

This is the biggest bunch of BS I have ever heard!!! You live in America!!! If you can't speak our language Swim back across the river and go home. You want to live her learn our ways!!! If we go down there we learn your ways!!!

You know what the problem is? Not that anyone's foreign and hasn't learned English. We don't have any problems with their having ESL classes, or bilingual classes. It's that the district /cut/ the English classes for the pre-K kids because they didn't see fit to pay for it when there were apparently not enough English-speaking students. It's that the English classes /became/ secondary. As far as I'm concerned, English is the standard, and should be in every school. It was when this country was settled, and it's no different now when you watch the news on TV. You hear English, don't you? My little brothers should be able to learn their language as if it were their first. Sitting around in an ESL classes, or with only Spanish-speaking students, is going to hurt their ability to learn the language properly. They will learn that "house" is the same as "casa," and come home asking what a "casa" is. This is not acceptable. This is not what we pay taxes for.

One small correction, if possible: the person who implied that I, myself, might be worried about the color of someone's skin was Patti Pace, SBISD's Executive Director of Elementary Administrative Services. Ms. Mercado was pleasant during our conversation, even as she was trying to convince me to send my son to her school per the call she received from the SBISD district office...Kelly Martinez

It too was an issue when my children were that age. My Son having a birthday that would allow him to start Kindegarten early was so exciting. Until I took him and found out they would not except him because he spoke English! I was very upset as I was struggling as a single mother. The thought of finally having a child going to school to help lessen the burden of daycare costs was comforting.

My other issue but off the beaten pass a bit is that the people that are on food stamps and have dominant Spanish speaking homes are allowed to have 4, 5, 6, 7 or more kids. Even though they cant pay for anything. Then they are allowed to fill up our schools while our kids WE PAY TAXES for are held back. I for one am tired of paying their way!

Insurance that we pay for with our taxes. Heck I worked with a girl that was making $40k per year but found a glitch in the insurance system for her to get FREE insurance for her kids by saying she was single! Her and her husband work and speak fluent Spanish as do the kids. Now that is total BS!!!

HOW DO WE GET BACK TO THE USA WAY???

Splitting up the kids is a ridiculous suggestion. Unless maybe there are 2 schools in Mexico...

This is "OVER THE TOP STUPID AND UN-AMERICAN on the part of SBISD. It "HAS TO BE"--"MUST BE"-"SHOULD BE" illegal for the SBISD administrators to be so irresponsible to refuse to enroll english speaking students in any of our public schools in our district. HAVE THESE ADMINISTRATORS GONE NUTS!!!
IT JUST HAS TO BE TOTALLY ILLEGAL!!!!
SET THEM STRAIGHT MICHAEL!!!

This is "OVER THE TOP STUPID AND UN-AMERICAN on the part of SBISD. It "HAS TO BE"--"MUST BE"-"SHOULD BE" illegal for the SBISD administrators to be so irresponsible to refuse to enroll english speaking students in any of our public schools in our district. HAVE THESE ADMINISTRATORS GONE NUTS!!!
IT JUST HAS TO BE TOTALLY ILLEGAL!!!!
SET THEM STRAIGHT MICHAEL!!!

This is "ABSOLUTELY OVER-THE-TOP STUPID" as well as UN-AMERICAN for our SBISD administrators to plan on refusing english speaking students at any of our public schools. HAVE THEY GONE TOTALLY NUTS!!!
TO REFUSE ENROLLMENT OF AN ENGLISH SPEAKING STUDENT IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL IN THE US "HAS TO BE"-"SHOULD BE" TOTALLY ILLEGAL!!!
SET THEM STRAIGHT MICHAEL.

I remember how incredible I found it that my child would not qualify for pre-K for the same reasons -- he spoke English as a first language, we had an income level that was above the poverty level and he was not developmentally delayed. Then when he was in 3rd grade he was reading at an 8th grade level and based on the Accelerated Reading program used by our school district, at that reading level he was required to read an enormous number of books each six weeks, so my pudgy little 3rd grader had to sit out at recess to read. If there was a child that needed to run and play during the day - it was him. It defied common sense -- something that has never been apparent in the public school system.

Who cares what language they speak? Kids should be seen and not heard, anyway.

Michael:

This story needs to hit the national news to box SBISD and its half-wit administrators into a corner with no way to escape! My wife taught in SBISD many years ago and even in those days, SBISD was paying its bilingual teachers more than its nonbilingual teachers. Shame on SBISD! What is this country of ours coming to?????

wtf nuff said. take this shit to the fucking news stations motherfucker! this is just fucking ridiculous.

wtf nuff said. take this shit to the fucking news stations motherfucker! this is just fucking ridiculous.

This is the America for Christ's sake.

English-speaking children should not be denied their basic schooling because of stubborn Spanish-speaking parents who don't want to teach their children English [or let their children learn English, for that matter].

It's depressing, sad, and infuriating how the educational system in this country has gone to shit.

I agree with Adam on this: take this into the press as far as you can, and make sure as many people as possible hear about it.

When in Rome do as the Romans do. When in America do as the 'fools' do?

This is nothing new. In Pearland, you must be economically disadvantaged and speak a language other than English. That is why my son could not attend Pre-K; we were apparently too well off and only spoke English But they happily take my school taxes just fine and dandy!

I would like to hear from other parents who have or have had this issue with this school district (SBISD). Maybe together we can be heard. My email address is kellyface@hotmail.com.

This is America!! We need to get real!! The true face of racism "reconquista"!!

I cannot believe this. We live in America. I can understand having E.S.L. programs and helping people who have come here but is this not taking it a little to far. If you want to go to a school that people only speak Spanish then you need to go to a Spanish speaking country. Not America. And no... Texas is not part of Mexico anymore.

My lord America... Stop allowing yourself to be screwed by the rest of the world. Stand up for yourself every once in a while.

Freaking rediculous. Not allowing children into an American public school because they only speak English??? This NEEDS to be national news!

I am disgusted with this in that my tax dollars pay the bill but they can dictate this type of requirement. English first and let the Hispanics learn that before they are allowed to attend.

Where are our civil rights that are being violated due to the large number if ILLEGAL aliens in our city!! If these ILLEGALS can not speak english then they should all leave and go back to where they came from. Legal action should be taken agains this school and the city. And I will dontate to the legal fund in needed.

This goes beyond being unfortunate. In this country you have a right to an education, this right is not based on the color of your skin, the income of your family, or the political views you hold, but it IS based on the language you speak. The dangers of catering to children who do not speak the national language is clear, when entire schools become non-compatible for the majority of its citizens. In our fervor not to discriminate against anyone, we have only succeeded in discriminating against what is classified as 'normal'. These two beautiful, 'normal' children have done nothing wrong, and yet they are being punished. Their needs going unmet so that their right to education can be scavenged, ripped from them, and fed to children who need not only that right, but special treatment it was never their right to get, or our obligation to give. Do everything short of protesting outside the school, and if it comes to that too, you better believe I'll be there.

It's ridiculous that taxpaying citizens' children can't attend the public schools that WE are paying for! That we would have to pay for preschool in HISD because our child comes from an English-speaking, wage-earning HOME (not homeless) is crazy! We could have PAID $400/month to have her go to school with those kids...no thanks! Now we've resorted to an excellent private school, I'd rather pay it to them than to HISD to have her in school with the aforementioned children.

D.Lee says
I agree with several of the comments made by the various people who have responded to Ms. Martinez's situation, about which I find myself both angered and saddened. I am angered that the tax dollars of people who speak English as their dominant language, regardless of their ancestry, their skin color, or their first spoken language, must continue to pay for the special treatment and services given freely to the illegal aliens trespassing in America, while their children receive the same in our public schools. Learning English, the founding language of America, should be the top priority of all people who want to be Americans, and live permanently in this country. Our American ancestors all came from other countries, many speaking other languages. While many kept their own, they ALL learned English, and were proud to do so. Learning English is part of being an American; a part of America. I am saddened by the very obvious breakdown of traditional American standards and values openly displayed by SBISD in its blatant discrimination against the "English speaking only" Martinez children. Perhaps SBISD has become so busy meeting the needs, and "special needs", of children who should not even have that right, that the Martinez children, and others like them, have become "less important". After all, they are not as needy since they can already speak English, and are ready to learn. Please make better choices SBISD! This is still America, and we still speak English!

America tries to help everyone else and ends up getting taken advantage of sometimes. I am trying to get into teaching and bilingual subs and and teacher's aides get paid alot more than regular subs. More than special ed even. Now, who deserves money more than special education teachers?

It is the same situation out here in Cy-Fair ISD. To qualify for Pre-K, you have to be: poverty level, homeless, developmentally disabled or English isn't your first language.
There are bilingual classes for Kindergarten - 3rd grade. Of course, by the time they are in 4th and 5th grade they are expected to be speaking English, however, they get put in a class with one teacher and one aide - usually about 16-18 kids to a class. Regular English speaking classes have at least 22 children, and NO aide.
I agree, it is messed up. The people across the street from my house, there are 3 families that live there, and they each have at least 4 children. They all go to school, taking full advantage of classes taught in Spanish and free lunch!
My particular elementary school happens to be the only one in the area - so even if you live in another school boundaries, if you don't speak English, you get BUSSED over to this elementary school.

Oh - and Bilingual teachers make more money than regular teachers too.

What a great place this is!

The sad truth is that our public schools are bound to crazy laws and policies put forth by the state legislature, congress, and the TEA. They are required to go by those policies and laws when your child attends. It is stacked against the average American. Everyone seems to fight administration and teachers without going up the chain to the root of these problems. Everyone wants to hold teachers “accountable” when they are the only ones in the system held accountable. Good teachers are lost every day with all that is wrong with the system and the absurd policies they are held to and “written-up” for not following all of them to the letter. They are being fired for questioning and following common sense… Sorry, the actual term is “contract will not be renewed.” Remember, according to our politicians making these decisions, teachers apparently can not be fired… their scapegoats.

Students are not responsible for anything they do; it’s all the fault of the teacher. Now we have an entire generational culture told not to respect teachers, given more rights than the “average” citizen, in classes with your children who you are trying to teach the very values they lack. Trust me, seeing this every in high school, this attitude, disrespect, and self-entitled believe is infectious and teachers have no avenue of combating this. Yet they are “accountable” for it.

All of this, and sadly more, is what is wrong with the public schools, not “those” teachers.

This is trully a massive tragedy for any upcomming American child whom speaks only the english language. We can not even order a meal from a fast food restaurant these days without being spoken to in spanish. This school needs to be addressed by the justice system for discrimination on speaking the english language. The right thing to do, would be you can not work, go to school, or any other dealings with the public unless you speak only ENGLISH. This country is really falling apart. I just pray for the next generation.