ELL case, Flores v State of Arizona, in Tucson courtroom this week

by David Safier

The decades old fight over the quality of Arizona's ELL education will be played out in a Tucson courtroom from Wednesday through Friday this week. The history of court battles over Flores v State of Arizona has reached legendary proportions.

People supporting more state support for ELL education are asking others to attend the hearings and demonstrate outside the courthouse.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 through FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 3 at U.S. District Court for AZ, 405 W. Congress, Suite  1500

FLORES v STATE OF AZ [sometimes referred to as HORNE v FLORES]

Your Supportive Silent Presence is Needed INSIDE the courtroom [starting at 9:30AM before Judge Collins in Courtroom 5B ]
Your Noisy Protest is Needed OUTSIDE the courtroom from 8:30AM-9:20AM each day until the trial is over

This case is about inequity in the education of English Language Learners [ELLs].  It started out almost 2 decades ago being about inequitable funding.  It has since added the new 'twist' of inequitable curriculum.  That's because Tom Horne and the AZ legislature pushed through a law that requires ELLs to spend 4 HOURS EVERY SINGLE DAY being taught English in something called Structured English Immersion [SEI], a mind-numbing skill/drill program that, by law, isolates English from any content.  That means ELL students are deprived of equal access to teaching in science, social studies, math, and other content.

And now another twist.  Our very own Tom Horne and his lawyers have pushed their weight around regarding the research done that shows the ineffectiveness of and damage done by SEI.  They bullied the researchers at ASU and UA and the Institutional Review Boards [IRBs] at ASU and UA.  IRBs are set up to ensure that the privacy of human subjects/participants in research–their names, where they work, etc.– is protected.  But Horne and his lawyers insisted that the IRBs reveal what they're supposed to conceal: the identities of teachers and schools that participated in the research. The judge decided the names of teachers don't have to be revealed.  But the names of schools will have to be revealed [making it that much harder from now on to do research in schools].  UA's IRB caved in and will break its promise to keep the names of schools confidential.  ASU's IRB didn't cave in–but that means those researchers will not be allowed to be expert witnesses and provide details that show SEI is damaging kids.

The outrage here for researchers and academics is government bullying and IRB caving-in.  The researchers working on behalf of educational/civil rights for ELLs need your support.

The outrage for kids is what the case is about in the first place: deprivation of educational opportunity.  The ELL kids stuck in those classes need your support.

Here's what you can do:
1.  Attend the trial [time TBA], take notes, post notes on Facebook, send the notes to blogs, listserves and other media about what Horne's lawyers are saying each day.

2.  Attend the trial [time TBA] and, by your silent presence, provide support to those testifying for the Flores side.

3.  Protest outside at 405 W. Congress from 8AM-9AM starting Sept. 1
Protesting what was done to the  expert witnesses is going to be pretty complicated–i.e., government intimidation [threatening researchers and IRB with contempt of court if they don't reveal names of subjects/interviewees; i.e., if they don't break the IRB's own rules about confidentiality.  This is a difficult issue to put on a sign, but if you want to . . . . . 
BRING SIGNS WITH MESSAGES LIKE: NO GOVERNMENT BULLYING OF RESEARCHERS; SHAME ON AZ FOR MUZZLING RESEARCH IT DOESN'T LIK.

Protest the substance of the case–ELLs are segregated by language and deprived of instruction in content for 4 hours/day.  This is the big issue–and also a much clearer issue for signs.
BRING SIGNS WITH MESSAGES LIKE: STRUCTURED ENGLISH IMMERSION DOESN'T WORK; SEI IS SEGREGATION; TEACH ENGLISH ALONG WITH CONTENT, ENGLISH LEARNERS ARE GETTING A BUM DEAL.