Former San Diego police chief David Bejarano is the newest member on the Chula Vista School Board after beating out 39 candidates for the position. KPBS Reporter Ana Tintocalis says he plans to focus on language education.
Bejarano says he fully supports Chula Vista's two-way language immersion plan, and he plans to find ways to make it more effective. Chula Vista is one of about 200 school districts in California that offers this kind of program. It allows Spanish speakers to learn English while native-English speakers learn Spanish. Bejarano says the program encourages bi-literacy and cultural appreciation.
Bejarano: If you can speak primarily three languages, English, Spanish and Chinese, you can communicate with 90 percent of the world so there are going to be more effective more successful in the future.
Not all educators embrace the two-way language immersion plan. Oceanside School Superintendent Ken Noon strongly supports a program that forces non-English students to only learn in English. Ana Tintocalis, KPBS News.
