I am so tired of this ridiculous issue of forcing administrators to speak Spanish. It is an issue as volatile as US immigration policy and the so-called "guest worker" (aka illegal aliens) program. When one looks at the big picture the English/Spanish debate boils down to one major factor: economics. As a country, we have made it easier for native Spanish speakers to live and work in this country. Their are huge pockets of Dallas where every thing is in Spanish. So why should we ask them all to suddenly learn English? When I can buy detergent at Albertson's that has a sticker on the side that says "Now With More!!!" and right next to it, it is labeled "Mas!", what the freak is going on in this country?

Hiring Spanish speakers to run our schools is not the answer because guess what? There aren't enough Spanish speaking professionals for all those jobs. At the same time, I resent Mr. Diaz's flippant remarks about the "race card" when handfuls of non-Hispanic, ENGLISH speaking DISD professionals work hard and spend close to $10,000 of their own money to earn a Master's degree in mid-management or counseling only to be shut out of jobs in DISD because they do not speak Spanish as well. This is ridiculous. I guaran-damn-tee ya that if Hispanic jobs were being shut out of the district, Mr. Diaz would cry foul and be upset as well.
Another major problem with hiring Spanish speaking individuals is that many of them are not even qualified to hold the job they have been assigned to. What sense does it make to have a Spanish speaking principal who has worked with children in a school district for only three years MANAGING and giving directives to veteran teachers of the classroom who have been working for 20+ years????? Our school has three Spanish speaking individuals whom are no more qualified to hold their positions than a recent college graduate. Oops! I'm sorry they ARE recent college graduates!! One of our "professionals" was being paid the same salary as a first year teacher.......and didn't even have an Associate's Degree. Why was she hired? She speaks Spanish. Is THIS right, Mr. Diaz? Another major problem is that some Spanish speaking individuals are often so poorly educated themselves that they do not even teach proper English or Spanish grammar themselves. How is THAT helping students? New York City tried the same thing--hiring folks from Panama and abroad and guess what happened? They ALL failed the state teaching exam. Mayor Bloomberg has since shut this program down.
Here's a novel idea, regardless of the 65% Hispanic student enrollment rate that everyon'e bandying about: This is the United States of America. We speak English. You shall do the same. I certainly don't expect to run around France, Italy and Mexico expecting everything in stores to CHANGE to English and everyone learning MY language. Why should oour country be any different?