School District 308 Board to Decide Whether to Expand or Discard Dual Language Program

Later this month, the Oswego School Board will vote on the future of the district’s Dual Language Program — deciding whether to expand the program or nix it to be replaced with a new program.

The board is set to make its decision on Dual Language at its Feb. 23 meeting.

Parents have strongly objected to plans to dismantle the two-way language immersion program, which helps English- and Spanish-speaking students master both languages.

At a Feb. 9 meeting, two options were presented to the board of education, according to the district:

• “The first option for improvement that the Board of Education heard involved the expansion and restructuring of the two-way immersion DL program, which is currently run on a lottery system with 365 participants within the district. The plan would call for each class to consist of 50 percent English-speaking and 50 percent Spanish-speaking EL students, with title funds spent only on the EL students. The cost of this expansion would largely be paid for by general funds, and would require additional staffing. In one scenario presented, implementation of this option would require 27 new teachers at a cost of $1.89 million to the district.”
• “The second option would involve developmental bilingual education for Spanish-speaking EL students only. No lottery or student selection process would be required. Title funds would be used exclusively for EL students. The goal would be English and Spanish language development for students by using both languages for instruction. In this scenario, implementation of this option would potentially require four new teachers at a cost of $280,000 to the district.”

The cost difference between the options, district officials said, is $1.61 million — although parents argue that a consulting firm late last year found that keeping the Dual Language program is cost neutral.

Assistant Director of Special Programs Theresa Ulrich said Spanish-speaking students in the Dual Language program have struggled in reading and mathematics.

“Segregating our Spanish speaking population is not the answer,” parent Shelli Kelsey said in a letter to Patch. “Why would our district, in the year2015, be advocating sending all native Spanish speaking kids to their own school, segregated into their own program?”

• Parent: Dual Language is Flawed, but Has a Place in Oswego Schools
• Letter: Don’t Segregate Spanish-Speaking Students

Superintendent Matthew Wendt last week told the board he favored the second option of creating a program for Spanish-speaking students because it requires fewer staff members and could more easily accommodate an increasing number of English language learners (ELL), according to the Beacon News. He told board members he did not think the district could afford to expand dual language.

District officials also said that in the past, they wrongly used state and federal funding earmarked for ELL students for English-speaking Dual Language students, the Beacon reported.

Parents were reportedly angry that the program options were presented to the school board with no input from the Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee (BPAC). Last week, Dual Language parent Luis Perez reportedly received a letter from the school district saying that BPAC was not “lawfully established” and would no longer be recognized by the district, according to the Beacon.

The district is reportedly in the process of former another parent group in accordance with state and federal guidelines, and that former BPAC members could join the new group.

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Related:

• Future Uncertain for Dual Language; Auditor to Evaluate Program

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