Misunderstanding About CMS Elementary School Riles Many

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Chief Communications Officer Nora Carr has responded to hundreds of e-mails in the last week after an article was posted online entitled "Invasion USA: 'Adios' English School? Super Wants Spanish."

The article by the Oregon-based online publication WorldNetDaily claims CMS is pushing for a Spanish-language-only school. It references a Spanish-immersion program at Collinswood Elementary.

Carr said not only is that information incorrect, but other media outlets have picked up the story without ever contacting the school district.

“It’s incredibly frustrating,” Carr said. “A lot of these big names out there, Rush Limbaugh and others, never bothered to call and check whether this story was true.”

Carr said what's worse -- the e-mails that are pouring in aren't cordial.

“Many of the e-mails were very hateful, which is disturbing,” she said.

One woman wrote, "You make me sick. This is America; evidently you have forgotten or don't care."

Another read, "How much are you traitors being paid for this by La Raza? You are a disgrace to your country.”

Several people took shots at the superintendent too.

"What an ultra-buffoon. Peter Gorman is a fool,” one person said.

Latin American Coalition President Angeles Ortega said the backlash in unwarranted.

“If nothing else, it’s really ignorant and it’s really unfortunate,” she said.

But Ortega said she's not surprised people aren't complaining about the French or Japanese immersion programs in CMS.

“It’s definitely misguided energy because they’re not questioning other immersion programs in other languages, just Spanish,” she said.

Carr said CMS staff put out a long list of corrections, but the damage may have already been done.

LINK: WorldNetDaily Story Titled “'Adios' English school? Super wants Spanish”