This just in: Arizona’s superintendent of public instruction says the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice are investigating whether the state discriminates against teachers whose first language isn’t English, according to the Associated Press.
The AP news comes from a story published by The Arizona Republic. It says that in April, state education officials began telling school districts to fire teachers who weren’t fluent in English. However, state officials have contested that version of events to me, as I’ve reported on this blog. State officials sent me a copy of a protocol that shows they monitor the fluency of teachers of English-language learners.
The Justice and Education Departments have been very active in looking into civil rights issues in Arizona in recent months. I reported just last week that they have made determinations that the state’s procedures for identifying English-language learners and exiting them from special programs violate federal civil rights laws.