SUNDAY •. DECEMBER 15.1985 . - --ffispa.ncs -­putting Wilson to . the i test By Peggy Heqlandez Globe Staff

When Boston public schools Superintendent Laval S. Wilson

i lOld the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce last month he would prefer that all students be taught LA VAL WILSON In English. the Hispanic commu- ' nlty fumed at what It saw as an Bilingualism issue grows

affront to bilingual education. . his commitment to the needs of . The . Issue has grown into the their chlldreriwho represent first major test of Wilson's ability . . 10,000 of Boston's 57,000 public

. to keep educational peace with a . school students. "If I had my way group that Leonard Zaklm,dlrec- with It. and I recognize that I

. lor of Boston's AntH>efamation couldn't do this,) would teach ' League. said should be the black ~ kids only In English or merge superintendent's "natural allies them as rapidly ,Into English In the quest for quality education classes as I could." Wilson said. In the city." . .. . . ,. ' . TWo weeks ago: the comment was

. Asa result of the comment made on Nov. 7. Wilson now faces _.agalnthrustinto the public arena

.a Hispanic community doubtful of .' HISPANICS, Page 41 "· .-

• mSPANICS ConUnued from Page 33

. ".; ,- , ... " " . -whenth~ new superintendent and Alex ROdrl~ucz, the head of the state C9mmlsslon Against Dls­crlmlmitlon, argued at a meeting of lhe .Greater Boston Civil Rights Coalitfonover bilingual education and d~~regatlon laws.

After: that meeting, abOut 10 Hispanic leaders voted on whether to stage a candlelight vigil outside the School Committee building to protest Wilson's stand on bilin­gual education. The idea 'was re:­jected because "most of us felt that communication was a better alternative at this point than con­frontation." said Lydia Rlvera­Abrams, a School Department em­ployeeand member of the ASSOCi" aUon of Educators for Llngulstfc Minorities . ...: ... : . . ~ _" " ' .. ' _ ..

. Time to. meet again ' :)'1 ,,'

The Hispanic ' community had met with Wilson once before. In October. Now. mallY said In Inter­views o(iFrlday, :the. time has .come to meet again. : , . . ; . .

'.'in ; th~ I;tere~t of education, this · community cannot have an antagonistic relationship," said

. Estella Carrion. director of the Hispanic Office . of Planning and '

I!!spanics-t~s~~ Wilson's -commitment :

Evaluation (HOPE). "We are try- ' Ing to get -together an ~genda to talk to him in January and help

.reconstruct the relationship be­fore It deterIorates any futher."

. "There has been dissatisfac­tion with the Boston Public Schools for a long time." added ' Alan Jay Rom, an attorney for the Bilingual Master Parent Advisory Council (Master PAC). "It's not his [Wilson's.Jooggage. but I think he has an obligation to be sensitive to that and to know that 'evervone Is Interested In working with -him to undo the mcs .. and not carry on the; bagga,ge of the past." •

In addition to the' hoped foi meetlng next month. Wilson is scheduled to discuss. blllngual edu­cation , with : Master PAC on Dec. 23. And' last week. Wilson sent a letter: to RodMguez offering to meet

anddlscill)g' any Issues Rodriguez wishesto1'aise.

~,~:i~1J~~~ ." ~ ~ ". . . .<~ " -r < . ·~ .v '.-> Lead~rs want statement

. :" ' .:;::,~~- , - ~ . . -: . Many+Jispanlc leaders feel W/I­

'sonIoust state that he Is commlt­ted~iQ< ~p!?ol,djngdesegr~~tlon-' ancr:~¥inguaL e<!~.E~tlon Laws.' They also want a list of questions answered. Including: . - --'. ,'~ " - :" ... --~ -" .,.. •.. --- -, ~ ~ . ,

• What is the School Depart­ment doing to curb the Hispanic drop out rate? . J ~~ , •

. ',. ,-, . ~ I.- . -,

• Why doesn't the. department have statistical Information on Hispanics In 'lts data base, who are nOW categorized with "other minorities"?

• Why did Wilson fall to ap­point a Hispanic to a key position

on ·hls staff when announcing his prrsonnel plan on Nov. I? .

• Will the Hispanic community· . have Input In Wilson's three-year strategiC plan for the Boston School system? '

. "We w~nt quality education," s.ald Nelson Merced. director of La Alianza Hispanic Inc., adding that the community also wants Wilson "to have an understanding of the reality of what the needs of Hls­panle and monolingual kids are."

. "I am not Insensitive at all to the fact that we come from dlffer-

, ent cultures and different back­grounds," Wilson said In an Inter­view Friday. "We need to respect each others cultures, but I don't see how lhat's antithetical to

' wantin~ young people to come out

with a wealth of understandtrig of IHeracy skills."

Supports billngual education

Wilson also said he Is "not out to do in bilingual educatfon and I'm not out to be cast In the same light as William Bennett," a refer­ence to the US Secretary of Educa­lIon's criticism of bilingual educa­tion. "I support bilingual educa­tion , but I've also said I would like to see the areas in which It can be Improved and the way young pe0-ple can be transltioned into Eng-lish effectively," . .

.' In response to specific concerns raised by the HispanIC communi­ty, Wilson said:

• "The three-year plan won't be developed In Isolation, I will hi­

, volve all consqtuents in the plan;"

" • "There's a significant lack of a statistical data base In .llie Bos­ton school svstem, One of the goals I've established is developing a gO<Xf".databa~ for all kids that wl?uld IncJude '9rop .out rat~!?,

course passes, test scores In rcad­Ing and wrlt!ng, [and] attendance rates," '~--i .

• "I offered an administrative position .to a Hispanic woman, a school vice principal, as assistant.: to the superintendent [as liaison to the School Committee], but she turned It down. I also offered an opportunity to a Hispanic male to <:orne from Rochester, N.Y., but he was unable to accept the post. The ract that there Is no one In a posl­lion to accept n.ow doesn't mean. I won't offer It In the future,"

"I'm not trying to discriminate ' 'a~alnst Hispanic s!ll~.ents,"_ Wil­son said, ''I'm trying to say . that all young people have to come out more literate If .they want to g.et good jobs and into the universi-lies." " -' :- . .

In ' return: HOPE's Estella Car­rion said, "What we're saying to 'Wllson Is: 'We both have stakes In the educatfonal .. outcome. Let us help solv.:: some of those problems ; and have access to you and the poliCies that are going to emanate In the systell1"The Latino popula­tion is the fastest growing minor- . ity in the system and · it's not as though the problem}s going to go ~way'." . . :- _: r ..