Metro school language survey stirs fuss

By Amy Lester
NEWS 9

The following is a script from a NEWS 9 broadcast

Tonight, parents are questioning the actions of a metro school.

NEWS 9 report

The parents say school administrators threatened to suspend their kids for a reason they consider ridiculous.

Students got a survey and the school went to great lengths today to get it signed. Some parents say the school went too far.

Parents rushed to U.S. Grant High School after getting a call from their kids saying they needed to have the survey signed.

One woman's son said that if she didn't sign, the school would suspend him.

Carloads of parents left home, or work, to sign a survey asking which language the family speaks at home.

Some students walked home to get it signed.

The district hands the survey out at the beginning of the year and receives about $500 for every student that speaks a language other than English at home.

The urgency came when the school realized yesterday that 600 families have not filled out the survey. The deadline to turn them in to the state is tomorrow.

However, the district insists no student faced suspension.

The district receives about $4 million a year from the state because of the surveys. The money goes toward the ESL, or English as a Second Language programs.

There are 8,000 students in Oklahoma City Schools who speak a language other than English at home.