Born in Texas. Educated in Mesilla and Las Cruces, New Mexico. Moved to Eloy, Arizona at the age of thirteen and continued my education through ninth grade. I have been a Tucson resident for forty one years. In the fight for an equitable education for Hispanic children, I began to tackle bilingual education since its inception in Tucson in 1965. I have no doubt that bilingual education is the single most negative factor in the education of Hispanic students. I also began litigation against TUSD in 1974 on behalf of Hispanic students in a class action suit against discriminatory practices and inferior education for these children. From then to the present time I have been actively involved in improving the education of Hispanic children. Since beginning this organization I have been present on radio and television programs speaking against the inefficiency of bilingual education. I am also have 400 hours of training in the Spalding intensive phonics method under the tutelage of Mrs. Romalda Bishop Spalding, the originator of the program. I have three years of classroom experience in teaching phonics at the elementary level. I am a member of the Reading Reform Foundation, a clearing house for information on the nature reading approaches.
I was born in Guaymas, Sonora; immigrated into the United States at the age of nine and learned to speak English through immersion in third grade. I spoke no English then, and my Anglo teacher spoke no Spanish; nevertheless, it took me one semester to become conversant in English with my friends. I graduated from Nogales, Arizona public schools and from the University of Arizona with a degree in English for secondary education. I have also received a Master's degree in Language, Reading and Culture from the Universtity of Arizona. For thirteen years I have taught English at Cholla High School in Tucson, where about 53% of the population is Mexican-American; our school is considered a "receiving school" at the end of a bilingual feeder pattern, to which I attribute the fact that, traditionally, most of our students enter with a third to sixth grade reading level. Every year, about six hundred freshmen enter our school; four years later, only around two hundred graduate. I believe firmly that most of these kids drop out because of their inability to perform academically in English. Since starting English for the Children -- Arizona I have spoken on several radio and television programs in Phoenix and Tucson, where the calls have been almost entirely in our favor.
Margaret Garcia-Dugan
Margaret Garcia-Dugan, Principal of Glendale High School Born in Cottonwood, Arizona. I was raised in Bisbee, Arizona, a mining town -- seven miles from the Mexican border. My parents spoke both Spanish and English, and spoke mainly Spanish at home. They were highly committed to their children learning English well and becoming productive citizens of this country; therefore, they pushed education and the learning of English as soon and as quickly as possible. I graduated from Bisbee High School and the University of Arizona. I am presently in my 27th year in education: 13 years teaching English to native speakers of English, and English as a Second Language (ESL) to non-native speakers of English; three years as a staff developer; and 11 years in administration. For the past eight years, I have been Principal of Glendale High School, where there is a high concentration of students who are immigrants from Mexico and other countries. Because of my experience, both as teacher and administrator, I am committed to offering the best education for all students, which is an immersion in English throughout their school day. Immersing students in the English language through ESL classes and mainstreaming them into the regular curriculum as soon as possible provides the best educational experience for our students.
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