It seems Jeremy Baca, candidate for the 62nd Assembly District, gave a little speech Friday. As is usually the case whenever a member of the Baca clan is the subject of a Democratic Party meeting, shortly after Baca’s talk the audience erupted into a shouting match over the subject of endorsements.
According to a report yesterday by Andrew Edwards of the San Bernardino County Sun, the son of U.S. Rep. Joe Baca and brother of Assemblyman Joe Baca Jr. told the San Bernardino Democratic Luncheon Club – which apparently argues about everything up to and including what to have for lunch – that he believes students should be allowed to take the California High School Exit Exam in languages other than English. “Students perform at a certain level when a comfort zone is created,” he was quoted as saying.
Sounds great, except of course for the fact that a key component of the test is proving 9th grade level competency in English. If only this guy had been voting on California public education policy when I was taking my second year of high school Spanish. I would have loved to have taken those exams in English.
And yet some of the quotes attributed to Son of Baca II by Edwards call the aspiring Assemblyman’s own command of English into question. Here’s just one example. Responding to a question regarding his thoughts about the shouting match that ensued following his speech, Baca was quoted as saying, “It shouldn’t have gotten out of hand or taken out of context the way it did.”