Hempstead Independent School District (ISD) in Texas has confirmed that a middle school principal has been placed on leave after Hispanic students said that she forbid the entire school from speaking Spanish. A group of students told KHOU that Hempstead Middle School Principal Amy Lacey announced over the intercom on Nov. 12 that they were no longer to use their native language in order to "prevent disruptions."
It was over two weeks later before the superintendent sent a letter home insisting that "neither the district or any campus has any policy prohibiting the speaking of Spanish." But the students said that the effect of the ban had been chilling.
"People don't want to speak it no more, and they don't want to get caught speaking it because they're going to get in trouble," sixth-grade student Kiara Lozano explained to KHOU.
Some students felt that the principal gave teachers permission to discriminate against them. "She was like no speaking Spanish," eighth-grader Yedhany Gallegos recalled. "I was like that's my first language. She said, well you can get out."
Watch the news report above.
Source: Bossip
