SCHOOLS TO WAIT FOR CHANGES; PROP. 227 IMPACT MUST BE SORTED OUT AT STATE LEVEL.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

Awaiting guidelines from the state and the outcome of legal challenges, the Antelope Valley's largest elementary school districts say they will make no changes in bilingual programs this school year following Proposition 227's passage.

School districts have 60 days to come up with a plan to meet the requirements of the ``English for the Children'' initiative, which calls for most non-English-speaking children to be placed in a yearlong program to build English fluency and then be transferred into a regular classroom.

``To say that magically every child will suddenly be English-ready in a year may not be the case for every child. That child will still need to be supported,'' said Ned McNabb, Lancaster School District deputy superintendent. ``I don't know what form the support will take. We need guidance from the state Department of Education on what will be permitted or what are the appropriate strategies.''

Under the measure, which was spearheaded by Silicon Valley businessman and millionaire Ron Unz, parents could request native-language instruction under certain conditions, but they would need the approval of school officials. About 1.4 million California children have limited English skills.

Palmdale School District's population of limited-English-speaking students has nearly tripled since 1992 from 1,110 to 3,111 this year - more than 16 percent of its enrollment.

In the Lancaster district, limited-English speakers have jumped from 735 in 1992 to 1,195 in 1997, or about 9 percent of enrollment. At the Westside Union School District, limited-English-speaking students make up about 2.8 percent of students.

Palmdale School District Superintendent Nancy Smith foresees more teacher training to help instructors deal with having both non-English speaking and English-speaking children in their classrooms.

``We are going to have to have massive training for teachers to know how to handle limited-English-proficient students within the regular classroom,'' Smith said. ``The problem is a lot of teachers have not had training. It's harder if you have a mix of English-speaking and limited-English-proficient students in class and to keep them both moving at same rate.''

Palmdale district schools only have 3-1/2 weeks of school left and then they will be off for the month of July, Smith said. By the time students return next fall, the district expects to have received its guidelines from the state.

The Westside school district will not have to make any changes because the district does not have bilingual education programs where primary language instruction is used.

``I don't see this law making any changes of big substance to us. But by the time they (the state) finish giving directions, that might change,'' said Regina Rossall, assistant superintendent of educational services. ``Our program has always been English infusion where you teach English as quickly as we can. We use aides to help with interpreting and to help with acquisition of English.''

Priscilla Gutierrez, a bilingual mentor teacher at Tamarisk School in the Palmdale School District, thinks Proposition 227 was a mistake and fears students with limited English-speaking skills will be harmed.

Gutierrez, who teaches at a school where 34 percent of the student body has limited-English-speaking skills, said it's unrealistic to expect 6-, 7- and 8-year-olds to master a foreign language in one year, when most high schoolers fail to do so after taking several years of foreign language.

``What we will find is that initially it may appear that they're doing OK in the first- and second-grade, but as the academic content becomes more difficult, they will fall further and further behind,'' Gutierrez said. ``The whole idea behind bilingual education is that you learn best in the language you understand. In English-speaking classes, they can learn English but they won't understand difficult academic content. Once you can learn critical thinking skills, you can transfer them to any language.''