Suspended for Speaking Spanish

A 16-year-old student at a small public high school in Kansas Citywas suspended for speaking Spanish in a hallway conversation.

Most of the time, ZachRubio converses in clear, American teen-speak, a form ofEnglish in which the three most common words are “like,””whatever” and “totally.” But Zach is also fluent in his father’snative language, Spanish.

“It was, like, totallynot in the classroom,” the high school junior said, recalling theinfraction. “We were in the, like, hall or whatever, on restroom break.This kid I know, he’s like, ‘Me prestas un dolar?’ [‘Will you lend me adollar?’] Well, he asked in Spanish; it just seemed natural to answer that way.So I’m like, ‘No problema.’ ”

But the conversation turned out to be a big problem for the staff at the Endeavor Alternative School, in an ethnically mixed blue-collar neighborhood. A teacher who overheard the two boys sent Zach to the office, where Principal Jennifer Watts ordered him to call his father and leave the school.

Watts won’t discuss the case. But in a written disciplinary message explaining her decision to suspend Zach for 1-1/2 days, she noted: “This is not the first time we have [asked] Zach and others to not speak Spanish at school.”

Source: The Washington Post, Dec. 9, 2005
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