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Ask the Superintendent - Feb. 8, 2006
Last week’s appeal for letters and questions
obviously worked. While the mail truck did not have
to be re-routed to accommodate a mass mailing, I
have received some very fine questions, which are
greatly appreciated, regarding practices and
policies within the school district. Each will be
answered in the forthcoming weeks. I encourage you
to please keep your thoughts coming.
This week’s letter is from Shannon Wong:
Mr. Reese,
I appreciate the time and energy you put into the
"Ask the Superintendent" column.
My girls have just started attending Scotchtown
Avenue School and I have been surprised by the
amount of important materials that come home for my
review. Recently, I have begun to wonder how
families who may not read English are accommodated.
It is my hope that the school district has some
process in place to ensure that that all families
are able to understand the very important
information your schools send home.
Thank you,
Shannon Wong
Mrs. Wong has offered through her question an
opportunity for me to share with you a trend that
all schools in Orange County are experiencing: the
growing number of students and families who speak
little or no English. As our county grows our
communities and school populations are becoming more
and more diverse. Goshen currently has 70 students
within our four school buildings in an ESL (English
as Second Language) program. These 70 ELL (English
Language Learner) students require a variety of
instructional services by certificated ESL teachers.
(For clarification, the program and teachers are
referred to as ESL. The students are referenced as
ELL). The support services are in place to assist
ELL students in reading, writing, listening and
speaking skills both in an out of the classroom. ESL
teachers reinforce content areas, teach English in
social and academic settings, and help with
culturally appropriate situations. These services
are based upon the level of English proficiency or
lack thereof that these students have.
As more limited English speaking families move to
Orange County seeking improved opportunities for
their families, we find our ELL student population
increasing. The ELL students have all of the
capabilities of any of our young students, except
they bring with them a language barrier. Our
responsibility is to ease as well as hasten their
transition and development into an English speaking
school and community. By doing so, we are providing
our students with the opportunity and the skills to
increase their academic achievement and improve
their chances of becoming productive and successful
adults. Within the last few years, we have enrolled
limited English speaking students who are Hispanic,
Chinese, French, Egyptian, Romanian, Indian, Serbian
and Croatian. Limited English speaking students
almost always live in households with non-English
speaking parents. This obviously creates an
additional burden as we attempt to keep open lines
of communication between the school and the home.
We are fortunate to have ESL teachers who are up to
the challenge of improving communication between
parents who cannot speak or read English. The
following is a sample of what is done to ensure
important information reaches the parents of our ELL
students.
- All important
documents are translated before being sent home.
- Translated
informational letters and documents are kept on
file.
- Older
children, who have successfully completed their
own ESL program, often serve as interpreters for
younger siblings at home.
- We are
fortunate to have ESL teachers who are fluent in
Spanish. At the middle and high school levels,
our teachers of Spanish often serve as
translators.
- Clerical
personnel who speak Spanish also serve as
interpreters between the school and home.
- ESL teachers
have developed wonderful working relationships
with the parents of ELL students and provide
important conduits of information and trust.
- Parents who
cannot speak English are tutored in key phrases
so that they can leave messages with school
clerical personnel. That message is then given
to an ESL teacher, who will promptly return
their call.
School delays and
early dismissals are disruptive to all families.
Think for a moment how complicated they are for
parents who do not speak English and who must make
decisions about the well being of their children.
Once again, our ESL teaches rise to the occasion and
personally call each family to inform them of an
early closing.
I would like to thank Mrs. Wong for taking the time
to write her letter and share her thoughts. This has
provided me the opportunity to share with you a very
important program in our schools.
Roy Reese
Superintendent of Schools
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