The Power of Parents: Mansfield ISD Drops Arabic Studies Program
Thursday, April 14, 2011 at 12:29PM “The Power of Parents: Mansfield ISD Drops Arabic Studies Program”
Introducton by Donna Garner
4.14.11
http://www.educationnews.org/ednews_today/153951.html
[Because of the hue and cry from concerned parents in Mansfield ISD, Mansfield, Texas, the administration was forced to amend its Arabic studies grant application sent to the U. S. Department of Education. The Arabic studies classes were changed from being mandatory for fifth and sixth graders and were moved up to the seventh and eighth grade as electives. Consequently, the USDOE refused the amended version; and Mansfield ISD breathed a sigh of relief because they were able to make a graceful exit from their ill-conceived plan. -- Donna Garner]
District drops Arabic program
Posted Tuesday, Apr. 12, 2011
http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/04/12/2994836/district-drops-arabic-program.html
The Mansfield school district will not be teaching Arabic after all.
On April 5, the district found out that its revised timeline to implement an Arabic studies program was rejected by the Department of Education, said Richie Escovedo, district spokesperson.
"We are stopping all Arabic studies effective immediately," Escovedo said.
The district had planned to begin the Arabic studies program this semester at Cross Timbers Intermediate School, but decided to delay the program after almost 200 parents showed up at a parents meeting to question the move. Funded by a federal five-year $1.3 million Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grant, the program was to then be integrated into the curriculum at Kenneth Davis and T.A. Howard Middle Schools in the fall and later to Summit High School students.
After weighing the parents' concerns, the district submitted an amended proposal in February that would have suspended teaching Arabic until the fall, using the rest of the current semester as a planning period.
Under the new timeline, Arabic studies would have been offered beginning this fall at T.A. Howard Middle School as an exploratory class for seventh-graders and as a foreign language option for eighth-graders, who could have use it for high school credit.
Howard eighth-graders could also have chosen Spanish.
The Mansfield district has already received $5,897.83 from the grant, Escovedo said. He said he does not know if they will be required to refund the money.
"We haven't received any information that we will have to," he said.
The school district released the news Friday afternoon in a statement on the district's website.
"It is clear to me that MISD and the Department of Education will be unable to agree on the specifics of this grant's implementation," Superintendent Bob Morrison said in the statement. "It is my decision as superintendent that we accept the Department of Education's decision without appeal. We appreciate our local community's patience and honesty as we worked through this process. Thank you for your continued support of our schools."
The University of Texas at Austin, working with the Mansfield district, originally identified Cross Timbers as a target because 10 percent of the district's Arabic-speaking population attends the south Arlington school.
The district offers Chinese, Russian, Spanish, French, German and Latin. Students may begin taking language classes in middle school to fulfill their high school requirement of two years of foreign language.
This story contains information from the News-Mirror archives.
Amanda Rogers, (817) 473-4451
Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/04/12/2994836/district-drops-arabic-program.html#ixzz1JTVfLeeb
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“Arabic Studies in Texas Public Schools”
by Donna Garner
2.25.11
People think that studying the Arabic language (and culture) is similar to studying Spanish, French, or German; but these people groups have not declared war on Americans, have not been involved in countless bomb plots and terrorist activities, did not fly their planes into tall buildings killing nearly 3000 innocent Americans, did not kill 13 people at Ft. Hood, and do not have a Muslim Brotherhood that is stealthily infusing itself into every part of our American culture.
Posted further on down the page is the link to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) that are required standards for Texas teachers to teach and for their students to learn. These are the standards that would guide Arabic language courses in Texas. They fall under two separate TEKS courses: (1) Languages Other Than English or (2) Exploratory Languages.
Please notice how many TEKS require students to learn about the culture of the Arabic language. That means that Islam which is a theopolitical belief system will be infused into these courses.
In other words, the Arabic language cannot be studied without learning about Islamic religious beliefs, practices, and the cultural/political ties to Mohammed, the Quran, Sharia law, Jihad, etc.
Separating concepts in Islam from concepts specific to Arab culture, or from the language itself, can be difficult. Many Arabic concepts have an Arabic secular meaning as well as an Islamic meaning. One example is the concept of dawah. One of the complexities of the Arabic language is that a single word can have multiple meanings. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_Islam)
QUESTIONS CARING PARENTS NEED TO ASK
Will school districts require an opt-in form to be signed by a student’s parent(s) before the student is allowed to participate in an Arabic studies program?
What Arabic instructional materials will Texas public schools use to teach these courses?
Have those instructional materials been approved by the Texas State Board of Education?
Have those materials gone through the normal adoption approval process where the public has had extensive opportunities for input?
What publishing companies have published these instructional materials?
What are the financial ties behind these publishing companies? Are they tied to Saudi Arabia or any other Middle Eastern countries?
Do we want our innocent school children to be seduced into Islam by becoming captivated by a study of the Arabic culture and Islamic belief system? Do we as taxpayers want to pay for this Islamic indoctrination of our school children?
YOUTUBE BY COL. ALLEN WEST
2.12.10 -- Col. Allen West explains that Islam is a theopolitical belief system. Move marker to 1:35: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkGQmCZjJ0k
MANSFIELD ISD, TEXAS
At taxpayers’ expense, Mansfield ISD (Texas) planned to start mandatory Arabic studies in Grades 5 and 6 with these classes eventually extending through high school -- 2.8.11:
and
Under pressure from enraged parents and members of the public when Mansfield ISD finally decided to inform the parents, Mansfield ISD has now changed their plan, but they have to wait on the U. S. Department of Education to approve it because of the $1.3 Million FLAP grant that Mansfield ISD received. Federal grants (paid for with our taxpayers’ dollars) do have strings attached.
NEW PLAN PROPOSED BY MANSFIELD ISD
Update: Feb 18, 2011
Press Release Mansfield ISD Arabic grant update
Mansfield ISD was recently awarded a Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grant focused on the Arabic language from the Department of Education. Based on our community feedback, Mansfield ISD has proposed a change to the US Department of Education that will modify the timeline and structure of the Arabic language grant. Arabic language classes will not be mandatory at any level in the District.
Mansfield ISD has proposed the following timeline for the Arabic FLAP grant implementation:
* Year 1 (2010-11) The current school year will be considered a planning year.
* Year 2 (2011-12) T.A. Howard Middle School will offer Arabic as an elective foreign language*; exploratory class for 7th grade and Arabic 1 foreign language for high school credit** in the 8th grade.
* Year 3 (2012-13) Cross Timbers Intermediate School (grades 5-6) will offer optional language exploration during advisory periods throughout the day. Parents will have multiple opportunities for feedback once a draft of the curriculum is ready for review.
Summit High School will offer a level 2 Arabic as an elective foreign language.
* Year 4 (2013-14) Summit High School will add a level 3 Arabic course as an elective foreign language. Additionally, Kenneth Davis Elementary will add optional language exploration of Arabic for grades K-4. Planning is in the early stages for the optional language development program at Davis. Parents will have multiple opportunities for feedback once a draft of the curriculum is ready for review.
* Year 5 (2014-15) Summit High School will add a level 4 Arabic course and an Advanced Level Arabic for Native Speakers in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin.
“We feel confident that these changes will be approved by the Department of Education,” said Dr. Bob Morrison, Superintendent.”
HURST-EULESS-BELL ISD (TEXAS)
Arabic language classes in Hurst-Euless-Bell ISD -- 2.20.10: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/02/20/2863420/h-e-b-school-district-to-offer.html
GULEN CHARTER SCHOOLS (TEXAS)
Charter schools tied to Gulen, an Islamist imam who was recently honored by the Texas Senate: http://ramparts360.com/uncategorized/texas-senate-honors-islamist-imam/
and
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These are the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) that are required standards for Texas teachers to follow when they teach Languages Other Than English or Exploratory Languages.
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter114/ch114b.html#114.11
Chapter 114. Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Languages Other Than English
Subchapter B. Middle School
Donna Garner
Wgarner1@hot.rr.com