Ms. Rediker told the school board that there were at least 567 Spanish-speaking students in the school district and that federal guidelines generally call for at least one counselor for every 250 students.

She recommended that the position be funded full-time, which would cost an estimated $45,000. She called the money spent ^"prevention money^" that would help ward off problems such as drug abuse and teenage pregnancy, "to say nothing of school violence and everything else" that afflicts a minority, school-aged population.

She criticized the school district's hiring of special consultants to deal with these problems at a "far greater cost" than funding the social worker's position.

 Parents welcomed in Spanish

Ms. Rediker was one of a dozen speakers to address the school board on the subject during the public forum section of the meeting on Wednesday. All

Her several minute welcome in Spanish was greeted with a round of applause by the parents. A translator was also provided for parents who could not speak in English.

One mother stated that her son "would have been lost without the bilingual social worker. If you truly want to help our children you would make this position full-time," she said.

"We need someone who knows our lives and the situations that we face every day. We need someone we can speak to in a confidential manner."

The woman's son, Roberto, a 10th-grade student, said that the bilingual social worker had become "the most important person in my life, besides my own family. She helped me enter school and gave us confidence," he said.

"She would come home crying every day saying that she wanted to go back to Santo Domingo. I told her that she could not give up or she would be a loser. It's a rough-and-tumble way, but you must keep going, I told her," she said.

Ms. Diaz said that Ms. Rediker was "a wonderful person, more like a sister or a friend to us. She is a person who came into my life and changed it forever."

"We want an answer. We want to open a dialogue," he said, reminding the board that the Village of Mount Kisco was sued in recent years for pursuing allegedly discriminatory practices with regard to Spanish-speaking laborers and residents in the community.

He also said that the feelings of the community were hurt when their children's lack of English proficiency was used to evaluate them for inclusion in the special education program for children with learning disabilities.

Mrs. Fallon responded that the school board had set a "clear policy" that student evaluations for special education were to be made on their special needs separate and apart from consideration of any language barriers.

Dr. Dennis concurred in that statement and noted that in his nine years as superintendent, the number of minority teachers had been increased five-fold, including 14 or 15 teachers of English as a Second Language — a program on which he said the district spends more than $1 million a year.

Mrs. Fallon agreed that there had been strides made, but thanked the Spanish-speaking community for delivering its message. She said the board would take it into consideration in determining the final proposed budget that it would approve on April 4. The budget will then be submitted to the voters on May 15.