I teach in a small elementary school and have a little boy from Germany in my pull-out phonics class. He does fairly well, given the language barrier, and he also does well in his overall class work. School officials told his mother that English as a second language will not be offered next year, and therefore he'll need to transfer to a different elementary school in the fall.

His mother doesn't want to move him. He's made friends and adjusted beautifully. In addition, the family is moving back to Germany in two years, so she doesn't want to uproot him for an ESL class.

Can she request that he remain where he is regardless of the school's recommendation?

Yes, his mother can refuse to transfer her son to a school where he'll spend another year in an ESL program. Section 305 of the California Education Code, written in response to the passage of Proposition 227 (a 1998 measure that limited bilingual education in California), states that "Children who are English learners shall be educated through sheltered English immersion during a temporary transition period not normally intended to exceed one year" (see Education Code Sections 305-306). The assumption under Prop 227 and the current law in California is that children should be ready to transfer from a transitional English program to regular classes after one year--which seems to be exactly what this child's mother wants. Prop 227 and section 310 of the Code list circumstances under which a parent can refuse a transfer to a mainstream class, but in this situation the parent wants to do exactly what the Code recommends. She should be able to make this request verbally, without even needing to put it in writing.

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