McAllen ISD: Nothing wrong with Spanish class that riled parent

McALLEN — An assignment for a high school Spanish class that made students recite the Mexican pledge of allegiance and national anthem upset a parent.

“I don’t see a connection between all this Mexican history, and the allegiance and the national anthem … and learning Spanish,” William E. Brinsdon said in an interview with conservative radio host Glenn Beck on Monday.

“I just find it appalling, the indoctrination (that) is going on down here,” said the 47-year-old truck driver, who had instructed his 15-year-old daughter to take a video recording of the exercise at McAllen’s Achieve Early College High School.

The school district maintains there was nothing wrong with the lesson.

“This was a single lesson, not an indoctrination,” according to a statement sent after a Monitor inquiry.

“It is important to note that every year, a teacher’s lesson plans are reviewed and modified for their appropriateness. This class will fall under the same protocol,” according to the statement.

All students in McAllen ISD recite the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance every morning of every school day, according to the district’s statement.

CURRICULUM GUIDELINES

Under the state’s curriculum standards articulated in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Languages Other Than English, high school students are expected to gain knowledge and understanding of the culture where the foreign language they learn is spoken.

The student is expected to:

>> demonstrate an understanding of the practices (what people do) and how they are related to the perspectives (how people perceive things) of the cultures studied; and

>> demonstrate an understanding of the products (what people create) and how they are related to the perspectives (how people perceive things) of the cultures studied.

Lesson plans are guided by curriculum standards set by the state Board of Education.

But how a teacher teaches in the classroom is determined at the “purely local level,” said DeEtta Culbertson, Texas Education Agency information specialist.

‘TIRED OF IT’

“It’s getting crazy down here, the Mexican flag is flying every day here,” Brinsdon told Beck. “It’s very upsetting; I am just tired of it.”

In the Beck interview, Brinsdon said his 15-year-old refused to comply with the assignment and got a 13 out of 100 for it. Instead she was given another project: Write a paper on the Mexican Revolution.

The rest of teacher Reyna Santos’ Spanish students delivered their assignments Sept. 15, the day that the Grito of Independence is re-enacted in Mexico, one day before Mexico’s Independence Day on Sept. 16.

Santos could not be reached for comment Monday by The Monitor.

Brinsdon and his wife did not return several calls for comment from The Monitor on Monday.

But Brinsdon’s mother, Mildred, reached via phone Monday in Corpus Christi, told The Monitor that when her son met his wife — who is from Mexico — neither spoke the other’s language, though they “sure are bonding good now.”

The grandmother said the family was being sought by the attorneys that are representing the five California high school students who were sent home last year for wearing U.S. flag T-shirts during the Cinco de Mayo celebration in their high school.

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Martha L. Hernández covers health, business and general assignments for The Monitor and El Nuevo Heraldo. You can reach her at (956) 683-4846.