More than 300 concerned citizens packed into the East Somerville Community School auditorium last Wednesday night to speak out against the Unz referendum, a new Massachusetts law that changes how bilingual education is taught.
     Attendees were of diverse ethnicities, and interpreters in Spanish, Portuguese, Punjabi, and Haitian/Creole helped everybody hear one another's messages, which universally stated that Unidos, Somerville's two-way immersion program, is simply the best way for immigrants to learn and to become valued members of American society.
     The law forces bilingual students to be placed into immersion classes with all books, materials, and instruction in English. Teachers will only be allowed to use a minimum amount of the students' native language, and the teachers can be sued for violating this rule, which will go into effect in September, 2003. 
     Those protesting held signs in two languages demanding a bilingual program for Somerville. Messages like "If you can read this, thank bilingual teachers," and "We want the bilingual program," captured the sentiments of the evening; gratitude for the quality of existing language programs for immigrants, and fear and frustration for the future.
     Youbentha Desse, a Haitian-speaking Somerville ninth grader spoke through a translator who had learned her language through the Unidos program. 
     "We are very afraid," she said. "This new referendum stands to ruin our dreams and keep us from becoming valuable members of society."
     Somerville Superintendent Albert Argenziano did everything he could to assuage the fears of the audience while stressing the need to deal with the new situation. "Your bilingual education that was voted for in 1971 that we all felt comfortable with for 31 years is gone," he said.
     Argenziano spoke of the fact that he and 21 other Massachusetts superintendents of urban cities and towns are asking for an extension to implement the program until all the proper resources are in place.
     "We will accept the referendum because we don't have a choice, but we're asking for a three-year extension through 2006 for the opportunity to professionally develop and train our staff as English immersion teachers and added to that, which is extremely difficult because of budget cuts, to be able to purchase the materials necessary to do this in 180 days," he said.
     Parent Advisory Council Coordinator Irene Dosantos spoke to the frustrations of the minorities. "Maybe it doesn't work for other cities, but it works for us," she said to applause.
     Many others conveyed the same attitude in their speeches, singing the praises of the Unidos program. "It's important to learn another language while you know your own," said fourth grader Rubi Monterrosa.
     Sixth grader Freddy Morrello, whose native tongue is Spanish, said the Unidos program has given him confidence because of the way that his culture is taught to other students.
     Paolo Pinto, executive Director of the Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers, said he would have dropped out of school if it weren't for bilingual education.
     "It builds self-esteem while retaining cultural pride," he said.
     Other attendees spoke about how the new program could not work.
     "It is impossible to learn all English grammar in just one year," said Haitian-speaking Albertine Francilme through an interpreter. 
     Joanna Vasquez, a junior at Malden High School asked rhetorically "Why is it that American kids are able to learn in Spanish while Latino kids are forced by law, not to be able to learn in Spanish?"
     State Representative Patricia Jehlen (D-Somerville) said the next step the School Committee could take in making changes was to form stronger alliances with other urban cities and towns with large immigrant populations. "A community that has a large bilingual population needs to hear about the importance of people in Somerville," she said.
     Jim Kaplan, a teacher for Somerville Center for Adult Learning Experiences, agreed that communication is the best route to change. "As the bilingual programs are eliminated we need to consider mechanisms that maintain the organization and collective communication of foreign language communities that have children in the Somerville School Department," he said.
     School Committee Representative from Ward 3 Roberta Bauer encouraged the audience to look into asking for waivers if they thought it would be too difficult for their children to learn in the English immersion program. Bauer, who is also chair of Educational Programs and Instruction, reiterated that the Somerville School Committee was the first to oppose the Unz referendum. 
     Carolyn Taylor, a School Committee Representative from Ward 6, also addressed the issue of waivers, saying that the School Committee would make sure parents are informed of their opportunities to request a wavier, and to try to make it easy for them to do so, while making sure the programs that they're requesting waivers for are available.
     "It may not be as much as we want to do, but it's as much as we're able to do," she said
     At meeting's end the School Committee made motions to request removal of the clause under which a teacher could be sued for not abiding to the rules of Question #2, and to be proactive about parents and students having access to waiver rights.