"Clustering" is apparently the new, hip term for bussing immigrants to certain schools to get the English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, at least in Knoxville, TN. At least Knox County Schools thinks this will keep them out of hot water with the Office of Civil Rights.
How very '50s of them.
More after the flip. With a hot little poll!
Schools to begin 'clustering'
County plans to bus students to one site for English classes
By ERICKA MELLON, mellone@knews.com
May 16, 2006
The Knox County school system plans to pilot a new English as a Second Language model next year - a move the supervisor hopes will improve teaching and keep the district out of trouble with the federal Office for Civil Rights.
The model, called "clustering," involves busing limited-English-speaking students from several schools to one nearby designated school, where they will have a permanent English as a Second Language, or ESL, teacher.
Under the district's current model, no school has a permanent ESL teacher. Instead, 16 teachers travel from school to school, wasting time driving when they could be teaching, said Sharon Fischbach, the district's supervisor of ESL.
The Tennessee Department of Education requires all beginning and intermediate ESL students to receive "daily services, or the equivalent," a requirement Fischbach admits the district is not meeting in all cases.
And that lapse, Fischbach said, could land the district in trouble with the Office for Civil Rights. She said the agency found Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools in violation after a parent complained in 1995 about its ESL services, which consisted of 30 minutes of daily instruction.
"We don't want to have that happen to us. We want to be proactive," Fischbach said in an interview Monday afternoon before giving a presentation about the pilot to the school board.
In some instances, particularly in Knox County's elementary schools, students are receiving instruction for 30 minutes, three days a week, Fischbach said. High school students, on the other hand, do attend a daily class.
"Three lessons a week at 30 minutes each, it's just not enough," Fischbach said. "And if we can give these students better English instruction, the faster they learn English, then the sooner they'll be successful in school."
Under the pilot plan, West High School will offer ESL instruction for its students as well as for those zoned for Fulton and Bearden high schools. Bearden Middle School will offer instruction for West Valley and Cedar Bluff middle school students.
The students will attend the designated ESL schools for the entire school day, not just for ESL instruction.
Superintendent Charles Lindsey said at the board meeting that, at the pilot stage, students who opt against transferring to the designated school would not be denied ESL services.
The pilot plan likely will affect about 70 of the district's 950 or so ESL students, Fischbach said. And the only cost, she said, would involve busing the students. Rick Grubb, the supervisor of transportation, estimates that cost to be $60,000.
Also at the school board meeting Monday:
Board member Robert Bratton said he planned to propose a resolution asking the Knox County Commission to fund a projected multimillion-dollar budget shortfall for the new Hardin Valley High School.
Board member Sam Anderson, who is being sued individually in a lawsuit questioning the validity of the Knox County charter and term limits, asked the board to consider hiring an outside attorney to represent the board's interests.
Ericka Mellon may be reached at 865-342-6334.