Horne threatened school administrators and board members over ELL program he didn’t really believe in

by David Safier

NPR ran a story yesterday about Arizona's mandated four-hour-a-day ELL program, which basically segregates students with limited English skills into "Mexican rooms" and insists only the English language and no other curriculum can be taught.

In the story, Horne says he really wasn't so hot on the idea:

[Horne] admits that he was never a huge fan of the four-hour block. Maybe kids would be better off without it, he says. "If the numbers of [ELL] kids are small, they'll tend to learn English from their contemporaries, so you don't need to give them a four-hour model. You just throw them in, and they'll learn," Horne says.

Say what????

In May, 2009, Horne sent a letter to superintendents and program administrators telling them their schools are expected to be in full compliance:

All schools, school disticts and charter schools are expected to fully comply with all requirements of the English Language Learners Task Force and fully implement the provisions of the Models of Structured English Immersion( SEI) adopted by the ELL Task Force for the 20A9-2010 school year.

A "good faith effort" will no longer be sufficient. Disticts and charter holders must fully implement a compliant model.

The letter continues, if they aren't in full compliance, board members and administrators can be held personally liable and be sued. The letter quoted A.R.S. $15-754:

Any school board member or other elected official or administrator who willfully and repeatedly refuses to implement the terms of this statute [A.R.S. $15-754 and I5-753] may be held personally liable for fees and actual and compensatory damages by the child's parents or legal guardian, and cannot be subsequently indemnified for such assessed damages by any public or private third party.

That's one hell of a strong letter from someone who thinks the program might not be that terrific for students. But hey, most of the students are Mexicans and they're not in Ethnic Studies classes, so who the hell cares what happens to them? Certainly not our former Ed Supe and current A.G., Tom Horne.

The man is a scoundrel and a hypocrite, many times over.