School prevails in English-only lawsuit

A federal judge ruled Friday that a Wichita Catholic school policy requiring students to speak only English didn't break any civil rights laws.

But U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten criticized both sides in the lawsuit for the way they handled the conflict and characterized St. Anne Catholic School's implementation of its English-only policy as "one-sided...."

The Rev. Thomas Leland, St. Anne's pastor, said that English was the "common ground" for all the students and teachers.

"As long as we have a common ground, that is where we have to meet," Leland testified Friday....

Leland said that when school starts Monday at St. Anne, the English-only policy will remain in force.