The Dotte School Board Debates 'Disrespectful' Spanish In Public Meeting

Our translation . . . Even if our Spanish isn't so great . . . Is that this dust up has more to do with FRUSTRATION OVER SHIFTING DEMOGRAPHICS rather than arguments over accommodation. 

Still . . . We share this report with a reminder that people have been speaking Spanish in the continental U.S. much longer than English AND that AI translation apps could very quickly make this kind of old school flexing a thing of the past . . . 

The moment unfolded during the public comment portion of Tuesday evening’s school board meeting, when Edgar Palacios, founder and CEO of local education advocacy organization Revolución Educativa, addressed the board entirely in Spanish.

Shortly after Palacios stepped away from the podium, Board Member Pamela Penn-Hicks addressed the room from the dais, taking issue with his remarks.

“I do have to make some comments tonight, particularly in light of what I consider to be a disrespectful display this evening,” Penn-Hicks said during the meeting. “I think there’s only one person on this dais who speaks Spanish, and the rest of us do not. And not getting afforded an opportunity to understand what was being said, although there were some recognizable words, but not in the context that it should have been.”

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

KCK school board member calls Spanish public comments 'disrespectful,' sparking pushback

A tense exchange over language during a Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools Board of Education meeting has sparked pushback.