Farmington will hire certified teachers for ESL program
Posted on Thursday, July 3, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/66768/
The Farmington School District plans to hire a certified English-as-a-secondlanguage teacher to oversee its program as part of a response to a complaint about its services to ESL students.
The Office for Civil Rights at the U. S. Department of Education submitted a resolution agreement to the school district last week designed to resolve the complaint.
Superintendent Ron Wright said the two main things the office asked the district to do differently were to hire teachers with ESL certificates or endorsements for the program and develop a formal ESL curriculum. He said he hopes to hire a new ESL coordinator before the school year starts.
“ We’re interviewing this week, and we hope to have someone hired (soon ), ” he said.
The district had not employed a certified teacher for the program in the past, and Wright said the Arkansas Department of Education does not require ESL programs to be overseen by certified teachers.
“ We were doing what the state requires; however, we want to cooperate and end this thing, ” he said.
The two-page resolution agreement was drafted by Maria Gonzalez, an equal opportunity specialist at the U. S. Education Department’s Dallas office. Most of the requirements are that the district submit reports to the department by certain times over the next two school years about the program’s classroom materials, curriculum, the district’s efforts to hire teachers and the qualifications of the ESL staff.
Nowhere in the agreement does Gonzalez complain about the manner in which the program was previously managed. Gonzalez visited the district in April as part of the investigation into the complaint. The site visit did not result in any immediate recommendations to make changes.
“ I think they were fairly pleased with what we were doing, ” Wright said.
He said the requirement to hire a certified ESL teacher could have implications for other school districts in Arkansas. The department may require other districts to hire certified teachers if complaints are made to the Office for Civil Rights, he speculated.
Farmington has a district enrollment of about 2, 150 students. Wright has estimated about 45 students are in the ESL program.
The complaint that sparked the investigation was filed on Nov. 15 by a former ESL teacher. She worked for the district during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 school years.
The complainant’s main allegations were that the district did not allow her enough class time with the students or provide adequate resources for instructional and testing materials.
Gonzalez did not address the allegations in the resolution agreement.