GROUPS FILE SUIT TO DELAY LAUSD.Byline: Peter Hartlaub Daily News Staff Writer Two civil-rights groups went to court Thursday in a last-minute bid to block the LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) from carrying out Proposition 227, claiming the school system is ill-prepared. The American Civil Liberties Union American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), nonpartisan organization devoted to the preservation and extension of the basic rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution. of Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, and the Mexican American Mexican American n. A U.S. citizen or resident of Mexican descent. Mex  i·can-A·mer Legal Defense and Educational Fund filed a class-action lawsuit, saying more than 300,000 non-English-speaking students would be irreparably ir·rep·a·ra·ble adj. Impossible to repair, rectify, or amend: irreparable harm; irreparable damages. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin harmed if the district continues its plan to curtail bilingual education bilingual education, the sanctioned use of more than one language in U.S. education. The Bilingual Education Act (1968), combined with a Supreme Court decision (1974) mandating help for students with limited English proficiency, requires instruction in the native . On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. Board of Education adopted a plan to carry out Proposition 227, which essentially replaces bilingual-education programs with English-immersion classes. About 50 year-round schools would start the plan Monday, with 164 others joining in by the end of August. ``No reasonable teacher or school administrator can be expected to implement the LAUSD plan in an educationally sound manner (by Monday) without adequate training, student assessment, curriculum or instructional materials,'' the lawsuit says. In court papers, the Los Angeles Unified School District defended its plan, claiming a court injunction would cause ``serious disruption'' to students and teachers. U.S. District Judge Lourdes Baird accepted the petition filed by the plaintiffs and set a hearing for 2 p.m. today. The groups want to at least delay the LAUSD from carrying out the proposition. The lawsuit, brought on behalf of students with limited English proficiency, was filed against the LAUSD and Superintendent Ruben Zacarias. Earlier this month, Zacarias said Proposition 227 ``doesn't make instructional or logistical sense'' and would be difficult to implement on time. But in the LAUSD's opposition to the motion, attorneys for the district said: ``If LAUSD were now enjoined from implementing that plan, it would be forced, over a weekend, to reverse the gears that are now in motion at the hundreds of schools within the district.'' |
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