[9V4i8xw1]

FIRST ON 5: Kids kicked off school bus for speaking english

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - A school bus driver let Rachel Armstrong's three children board the bus Monday morning, but he warned them that he wouldn't give them a ride home that afternoon, nor could they ever ride his route again.

The problem: Armstrong's 10-year-old twin girls and 8-year-old son speak English. According to their mother, the driver told them the route had been designated for non-English speakers only.

FIRST ON 5: Kids*kicked off school bus

This takes the cake.
School admits mistake, but kids will still not be able to ride bus now because technically they live out of the busses route - although they have been riding it all year.

[Imalaycle]

Un-friggin-believable.

Matt

[Peterli]

Ummm....

St. Paul schools spokeswoman Dayna Kennedy acknowledged Thursday that school officials handled the situation poorly, but said the reason Armstrong's children were ineligible to ride the bus was because they lived outside the school's attendance area - not because they spoke English.

The bus route was meant to serve a language academy at Phalen Lake for Hmong kids learning English, and the district's academies all have separate bus routes to keep their students together. It sounds as if the school has several independent educational facilities operating within it, and that they do not share their bus routes (which does seem stupid to me). The kids weren't kicked off for "speaking English" - they were kicked off because the bus that they were catching was reserved for a different academy within the school.

[9V4i8xw1]

Ummm....



It sounds as if the school has several independent educational facilities operating within it, and that they do not share their bus routes (which does seem stupid to me). The kids weren't kicked off for "speaking English" - they were kicked off because the bus that they were catching was reserved for a different academy within the school.

Yes - but not the point.

1) The kids rode the bus all year.
2) The bus driver told them the reason was because they were speaking English, and the other kids couldn't understand what they were saying
3) The school cooperated with the driver by calling the mother and telling her she had to come pick up her kids.
4) The school admitted they made a mistake.
5) Only AFTER the media attention did the school find out the kids were out of the schools bus route - AFTER they had already kicked them off.

Fox has a news video - it shows the schools letter, and it clearly states AFTER the incident the school found...ect.

[gkruCRi1]

Yes - but not the point.

1) The kids rode the bus all year.
2) The bus driver told them the reason was because they were speaking English, and the other kids couldn't understand what they were saying
3) The school cooperated with the driver by calling the mother and telling her she had to come pick up her kids.
4) The school admitted they made a mistake.
5) Only AFTER the media attention did the school find out the kids were out of the schools bus route - AFTER they had already kicked them off.

Fox has a news video - it shows the schools letter, and it clearly states AFTER the incident the school found...ect.

More information would certainly be helpful, but from what I am scanning, it does sound like it was likely an inarticulacy by the school bus driver from what I am reading, though.

The bus in question serves a language academy for children learning to speak English. Other kids go to other schools and particular busses serve each one.

It could have been handled better, but this kind of event just appears to be something I could easily envision, and the event getting misconstrued and mangled into something more than it really was.

The driver obviously detected that these kids were not supposed to be on the bus because the driver spotted these kids speaking fluent English and in a manner indicating they were run-of-the-mill American kids speaking English, and thus naturally assumed that they could not be in the school that the bus serves. And maybe the bus driver got the feeling the kids were poaching a ride on this bus knowing they weren't supposed to be there too, something I remember as a child many students doing so they could ride with their friends, get dropped off somewhere different, get a better dropoff because their own assigned bus and its stop stinks by comparison, etc.

I can envision a bus driver finally hearing them and telling them to get off the bus, and with the kids asking why, the driver saying "because you kids speak English"--i.e., you know what bus this serves, and you know you are not supposed to be on the bus.

No offence meant to school bus drivers and many were great people and had the patience of saints from my own recollection of the school bus experience, but the ones I knew weren't exactly Oxford postgraduates with excelling eloquence and precision in communication and conflict resolution. They were working stiffs hustling around piles of wild school kids to and from school, the scene of which makes the atmosphere a lousy one for precise and diplomatic exchanges between the driver and kids.

This story really brings me back down memory lane to remember all the red tape school bus procedures, antics, the chaotic school kid atmosphere and the personalities of school bus drivers and the kinds of exchanges we all had with them.

[JTS_tv]

You're just confusing the issue OSB. English, America, School bus drivers, and Christmas are all under attack, dammit. Can't you see that?

[fabrizioitwloch]

If they are in this country, they need to speak ENGLISH, period !

It is high time that the English language becomes our national language, if it doesn't, it is only a matter of time when Spanish or French will become it and then forced down our throats like a throne bush.

[dwestemesse]

If they are in this country, they need to speak ENGLISH, period !

It is high time that the English language becomes our national language, if it doesn't, it is only a matter of time when Spanish or French will become it and then forced down our throats like a throne bush.

Why? Why must we speak English? I can understand the notion that a people that speak the same language make things easier, but why english and why are you so personally revolted by the idea of 'another language'?

Are you protecting American or Anglo heritage?

[gkruCRi1]

If they are in this country, they need to speak ENGLISH, period !

It is high time that the English language becomes our national language, if it doesn't, it is only a matter of time when Spanish or French will become it and then forced down our throats like a throne bush.

But that is precisely what they are trying to do at that school--learn English. English is learnt by immigrants but it does take time to learn a new language fluently. I don't see other languages posing that kind of a threat. That was once said often about German posing such a threat but it never happened and then, as now, there was no official language.

[fabrizioitwloch]

Why? Why must we speak English? I can understand the notion that a people that speak the same language make things easier, but why english and why are you so personally revolted by the idea of 'another language'?

Are you protecting American or Anglo heritage?

It has always been English and should stay that way.
Are you telling me that you'd prefer to wake one morning to find another language replace English ?

[Eromereorybig]

Just another alarmist reaction by American bigots. The story is fake.

Next.

[fabrizioitwloch]

But that is precisely what they are trying to do at that school--learn English. English is learnt by immigrants but it does take time to learn a new language fluently. I don't see other languages posing that kind of a threat. That was once said often about German posing such a threat but it never happened and then, as now, there was no official language.

They might be there to learn it, but I am betting that most-to-all resort back to their native language as soon as they are out of there.

I see this crap everyday at work, I work where there are people from all nationalities and even after 5 years, they speak English like crap and you have a very hard time understanding them......It's all because we do not have a national language and the screw balled politicians won't vote one in.

[gkruCRi1]

They might be there to learn it, but I am betting that most-to-all resort back to their native language as soon as they are out of there.

I see this crap everyday at work, I work where there are people from all nationalities and even after 5 years, they speak English like crap and you have a very hard time understanding them......It's all because we do not have a national language and the screw balled politicians won't vote one in.

Immigrants--and quite understandably in the early periods of their immigration--tend to stick together with those who come from their native land and can speak their language. This provides a comfortable and able transition to new environments. This is especially so where the immigrant group in question speaks a native language other than English because they would be in a hopeless situation unless someone can communicate with them, translate for them and help them (including learning the ways of the land and its language) until they learn English.

English is what is used in the US for all common communication. Someone who can't understand it will not be able to watch most TV, listen to most radio, read most news, speak with most people, read most signs, etc. They are imprisoned, so to speak, in small ethnic confines until they learn it, something that is unpleasant to most people and provides a huge incentive to learn English so they can understand everything around them.

If the US made English an official language, this will not make anyone magically learn the language any faster than the obvious pressures that compel them to learn it. It takes time to learn them. Many states, including my own, already have English as an official language and it hasn't made any difference whatsoever in the learning process. In fact, if making the language official is followed by legislative efforts to ban teaching efforts, this would hurt rather than help the learning of English.

Insofar as attempt to outlaw speaking other languages, I think this would constitute a violation of the First Amendment unless it was amended to require only English be spoken. This would also seems difficult and impractical to enforce.

As for your job, this seems like a failing by the bosses because they can set the language standards for the employment, including speaking in English and having proficiency in English if that is something that should be expected on the job given its nature and employment needs.

[infollafago]

It's all because we do not have a national language and the screw balled politicians won't vote one in.

What are we? Quebec?

[Peterli]

The idea of a "national language" reeks of big government to me.

[AdvertisingPo]

If they are in this country, they need to speak ENGLISH, period !

It is high time that the English language becomes our national language, if it doesn't, it is only a matter of time when Spanish or French will become it and then forced down our throats like a throne bush.

It has always been English and should stay that way.
Are you telling me that you'd prefer to wake one morning to find another language replace English ?

They might be there to learn it, but I am betting that most-to-all resort back to their native language as soon as they are out of there.

I see this crap everyday at work, I work where there are people from all nationalities and even after 5 years, they speak English like crap and you have a very hard time understanding them......It's all because we do not have a national language and the screw balled politicians won't vote one in.

It would be a meaningless gesture.

The United States will become increasingly bi-lingual whether or not English is the official language.

En serio, cree los latinos van a parar hablando en espanol con sus hijos?

[qQVXpYM6]

The idea of a "national language" reeks of big government to me.

That depends on how it is implemented. The way I would like it to be implemented, is to simply only operate government facilities in English and write all documents that way. It would in no way prevent an American private organization, like a restaurant, from banning the use of English within its walls and only allowing people to speak in Chinese.

[fabrizioitwloch]

It would be a meaningless gesture.

The United States will become increasingly bi-lingual whether or not English is the official language.

En serio, cree los latinos van a parar hablando en espanol con sus hijos?

If I ever start a business, I wouldn't hire anyone who doesn't speak english.
It is bullshit that other languages are slowly being forced upon us.

[fabrizioitwloch]

What are we? Quebec?

Not sure what you are saying.

[fabrizioitwloch]

The idea of a "national language" reeks of big government to me.

By electing a national language? How so?, the federal level can't get any bigger with all of the states passing their duties off on it.