At yesterday morning’s Phoenix, AZ press conference, Congressman Matt Salmon became the first (and only) prominent political figure in that state to endorse our “English for the Children” initiative, and nearly the first in the nation to do so.
The press conference went extremely well, with forty or fifty Hispanic parents and their children from throughout the state participating, with “English for the Children” signs and tee-shirts; many of these parents had taken a day off work and had driven hundreds of miles that morning to attend.
Oceanside, CA Superintendent Ken Noonan, the founding president of the California Association of Bilingual Educators and a previous opponent of Prop. 227, flew in from California to lend his weight to the remarkable success of the California measure.
Coverage was excellent, with four television stations, various radio stations, and the state’s largest newspapers attending. The story below appeared as a front-page, banner headline article in the state news section of the Arizona Republic. I also include our press release on the event.
Given the facts from California’s example and the favorable coverage in the press, I must once again ask: what in the world are all the politicians afraid of???
- Bilingual education may be on way out
Arizona Republic, Tuesday, June 6, 2000