Even if Question 2 does pass, there are ways around its restrictions. Parents could request waivers if they want their children to attend bilingual classes—and Cambridge school officials say the district will actively encourage parents to obtain these waivers if Question 2 passes.

But in the meantime Director of Bilingual Education Mary T. Cazabon says the city has joined the opposition to Unz’ ballot initiative.

“We’ve been part of the movement and done the phone calling,” she says. “Just about everything that one could do, we’ve done it.”

Arnold Clayton, who oversees international students at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, says Question 2 could hurt students who enter the high school with very little previous education.

“The great bulk of our students are students who’ve come here as teens with skills that are much more on the elementary school level,” he says. “Very often at the beginning level, the native language helps.”

Cambridge educators also say that English immersion classes will isolate students, posing further challenges to their acclamation to the country.

“I am totally against separating children,” Cazabon says. “To me, this is a form of segregation. It’s like a quarantine.”

As polls have shown the initiative gaining in popularity, Cambridge officials have already taken steps to scale back bilingual programs and offer more English immersion.

Already, plans are underway for a modification of the bilingual program at a new school that, according to a current district plan, would open next year and consolidate three of the district’s elementary programs.

But as school officials plan for restructuring, residents continue to fight the measure that would mandate these cuts.

For months, Cambridge parent Marla Erlien has gone door to door and approached shoppers in malls, urging them to vote no on Question 2.

She says many Boston-area residents have been surprised to hear that the Unz initiative even existed, while others were ignorant as to what its implications would be.

“Four months ago, hardly anybody knew about it,” she says.

More recently, Erlien says she has faced opposition from people who say immigrants who do not speak English have no business in the country.

Harvard students and faculty have joined the anti-Question 2 crowd, attending rallies and debates across the Boston area and advocating against the measure.