School's English-only policy leads to lawsuit
9:39 p.m. Friday, May 23, 2008
The debate centers around 11-year-old Adam Silva, who, at the start of this school year, refused to sign a pledge saying he would speak English only.
"They were speaking Spanish to each other during free time."
At the time, Adam was attending Saint Anne Catholic School. It says the policy was created to prevent bullying, that it was a behavior issue.
"What he and some of his friends were doing was using the Spanish language to make derogatory statements against other students."
Adam's parents, .Mike and Clara Silva say that's simply not true and they were never told of any discipline problems with their son.
And now, along with three other Wichita families, they are suing the school for discrimination.
A lawsuit filed in federal court says the policy, "has created and continues to create racial and national origin discrimination"
"There are families that feel unwanted, treated differently. Children are harassed and they continue to feel afraid, they're afraid everyday they're going to be asked to leave like Adam."
The school disagrees and says Adam was not asked to leave, he was transferred and that transfer was initiated by the Silvas, not by the school.
"Over the course of many, many years, we've always opened our arms towards all different types of people."
The Silva's attorney says the goal of the lawsuit is to remove the English-only policy and for Adam to return to St. Anne's.
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