Parents in Santa Ana Unified have submitted more than 4,000 requests for waivers, a number far exceeding reported requests in other districts hit hard by Prop. 227, such as the Anaheim City School District. That has raised the suspicions of bilingual-education opponents that Lopez's school visits might be more political than informational. It wouldn't take a translator to figure that Unz is steaming mad. Santa Ana's superintendent, Al Mijares, however, countered that Unz is wrong when he suggests that Santa Ana is sidestepping the law. And built right into Prop. 227 is the notion of parental choice.
Parents still have the option.
What we have simply done is to honor that option. Lopez says honoring parents' right to choose means conducting meetings like the one last week at Fremont, a school of more than 1,100 students in which little more than half are LEP students. According to Lopez, the fact that Taft has nearly 400 LEP students and has held one informational meeting for parents makes him suspicious. But there has been criticism that Lopez's methods as a prominent community leader coerces unsuspecting parents into requesting waivers. Mr. Lopez is pushing the waivers and making sure that every parent is counseled about their right to waive.