Teachers were not the only ones with concerns. When Ventura teacher Renee Sutton assigned 20 minutes of reading to her third-grade immersion class, some asked if the books had to be in English. The Oxnard Elementary District is in many ways a bellwether for the county. English development manager Purdy said the district has been working since February on a specialized 30-day teaching unit for the new classes. The end of the program coincides with the first day that parents of pupils 10 or younger can apply for waivers for their children to attend traditional bilingual classes.
Administrators expect many parents in the heavily Latino district to apply for the waivers.
We wanted to have the least disruption in instruction as possible. Backers of Proposition 227 let its first day of enforcement pass with little fanfare. Businessman Ron K. Unz, the oft-quoted sponsor of the initiative, announced the formation of an organization to help monitor its implementation. Unz said the calls would be logged to help determine what schools or districts should be targeted for lawsuits for noncompliance. The new era began around the state despite the best efforts of opponents, who went to court to block implementation of the initiative and in some cases have vowed to defy it.