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Date: 8/31/2022
LONGMEADOW – Longmeadow Public Schools (LPS) Director of Pupil Services Jean Fontaine presented a case to the School Committee for the district to hire a third teacher for English language learner (ELL) students.
At the committee’s meeting on Aug. 23, Fontaine explained that the district provides ELL students with language instruction at four of its six schools: Blueberry Hill School, Wolf Swamp Road School, Glenbrook Middle School and Longmeadow High School. Students at Center School and Williams Middle School who require language services are moved to one of the other schools.
In any given year, between 15 and 20 students require the services, with some categorized as beginners, who know little to no English, and others with a firmer grasp on the language. In the 2018-2019 school year, the number of students in the ELL program was 26 with 2.6 teachers to instruct them. Since then, as the program enrollment declined slightly, the number of teachers was reduced to two.
The numbers are not yet final for the 2022-2023 school year, but Fontaine said there are at least 20 students in need of ELL services, but 12 of them are beginners, “which is where it gets dicey.”
Beginner ELL students require at least two 45-minute blocks of English language instruction per day, under Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) guidelines. Students with more knowledge of the language require only one block per day. Fontaine added, “Because our beginners are spread across 13 grade levels, we can’t group them,” which means even more instruction time is needed.
Last year, with 20 students, just nine of which were beginners, a substitute position was utilized to hire a third teacher to “get us to the end of the year,” Fontaine said. For this year, she has requested a full-time position. Assistant Superintendent for Finance Thomas Mazza said there should be enough funding between vacant positions and unexpected turnover, with less experienced teachers earning lower salaries than those that left the district.
“We cannot meet the needs” of the ELL students with less than three teachers, Fontaine told the committee.
School Committee Clerk Kevin Shea asked if one teacher would be assigned to the elementary schools, one to Glenbrook Middle School and the last to the high school. Fontaine explained that Blueberry Hill School needs a dedicated teacher stationed there due to the number of ELL students at that school. The other teachers would split their time between the other three schools.
Fontaine described it as “very flexible,” and “a lot of teamwork.” Eventually, she said, she would like ELL services available at all of the district’s schools.
School Committee member Jaime Hensch asked why not move all ELL students to one school, rather than try to staff all the schools. Fontaine told him that was essentially the case, as there was only one student requiring services at Wolf Swamp Road School. However, Fontaine said services at each school would be in line with the district’s stated commitment to equity and inclusion.
“It’s really tough to tell a family that has arrived in this community... ‘Welcome, but you can’t go to school in your neighborhood because you speak a different language.’” Hensch said it may be in the best interest of students because of staffing costs.
The third teacher was unanimously approved for the upcoming school year.
Tate Learning Center
The School Committee recommended the Tate Learning Center, a special education day school, be granted accreditation by DESE.
State law requires the public school system in the applicant’s municipality to review the institution’s curriculum for “thoroughness and efficiency.” Fontaine said Tate Learning Center’s curriculum is “pretty much in line” with the district’s curriculum “for students with these ability levels, including life skills and a “high-quality” reading program. Fontaine said the students ustilizing Tate Learning Center services are not eligible for a diploma, but instead are able to receive services until they age out of the program at 22 years old.
School Committee member Gianna Allentuck asked how many students the center can accommodate. Tate Learning Center Owner and Director Christina Rizzo Tatreau explained that the center can service between 15 and 18 students based on its use of a one-to-one ratio of students to “Learning Coaches.”
The learning coaches are equivalent to paraprofessionals in the public schools and “typically” have registered behavior technician certifications said Tatreau, who also owns Tate Behavioral, a consulting firm that LPS has worked with in the past. Some of the learning coaches have additional credentials.
Tatreau said each classroom has between four and five students with a special education teacher and a behavior analyst in the classroom. There are also “floating” personnel who work in various classrooms and focus on speech and language, physical therapy or occupational therapy, among other specialties.
Students are referred to the center by their school districts when the student is determined to need “a more restrictive setting,” Tatreau said.
Tate Learning Center’s next step is to apply to DESE for accreditation.
Middle School Building Committee
Superintendent M. Martin O’Shea told the School Committee that 18 people had applied for four positions on the Middle School Building Committee. Two will be appointed by the School Committee and two by the Select Board.
The feasibility study is estimated to cost approximately $1.6 million, based on public data from other Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) projects. O’Shea said the Select Board is considering various funding mechanisms, which will be voted on at the Special Town Meeting in October.
In the meantime, he said, the district will need to engage in community outreach to educate the town on the project.