Dallas ISD trustee: Principals must learn Spanish

Joe May, a trustee on the Dallas ISD school board, is proposing a measure that would force principals to learn Spanish:

Some Hispanic Dallas moms say they're often in the dark about how their children are performing in school because they don't know English, and the principal doesn't know Spanish. A new proposal before the school board would force principals to learn the native language of the majority of students — for 43 percent of pupils at Dallas schools that language is Spanish.

In-depth investigation by LST's research department has revealed a few interesting facts about Mr. May: While sitting on a redistricting commission in 1991, May was instrumental in gerrymandering Dallas City Council districts for the benefit of Democrats. May -- later a Democrat precinct chair -- did a little too well, and the Fifth Circuit Court overturned the new district maps.

In a 2003 redistricting hearing, May lamented:

69.8 percent of all households living in overcrowded conditions in Dallas, Texas are of Hispanic origin.

Incidentally, tax records show that he's a real estate investor. It looks like he specializes in renting out... um... low-income housing. You know, like a 60-year-old frame house with no air conditioning. A common complaint against some Hispanic political groups, particularly LULAC (an organization that May ran in Dallas) and MEChA is that they secretly want to return heavily Hispanic areas of the United States to Mexican control. May's comments don't do much to quell those concerns:

"I'm not pushing any change … bilingual, bicultural way of life has been in this state before the Alamo was here," trustee Joe May said.

Is May suggesting that we go back to pre-Texas Revolution days?

[Hat-tip: LST reader Lee Hopkins]