Schools moving ahead with required aid plans

Deirdre Newman

NEWPORT-MESA -- After being brought to task for how it was teaching

and assessing English-language learners, the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District has finished improving areas found lacking and is now racing to

create a comprehensive plan for all its schools.

The work is in response to both a state review and a federal

investigation that found the district acted inconsistently in its

approach to dealing with students whose native language is not English.

Leading the charge is Karen Kendall, who left blue-ribbon Harbor View

Elementary School to take on the challenge and who boasts extensive

experience working with English-language learners at the elementary,

secondary and adult levels.

The districtwide plan is significant because it ultimately will unify

the jigsaw puzzle of processes that different schools once used and will

enable the district to continue receiving federal funding.

The district’s flaws became apparent in the fall when a state review

found it was not complying in 11 areas. About the same time, the U.S.

Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights also reported that the

district was not fully meeting the needs of students with limited English

proficiency.

The federal report, brought on by TeWinkle Middle School parent Mirna

Burciaga’s complaint, ordered the district to create a systematic program

or risk losing federal funding.

Kendall said she came on board for the opportunity to assist with

programs that affect 6,000 students in the district.

“I think you serve where you’re needed,” Kendall said. “I recognize

that my experience and background was a match.”

The three main focal points of the plan will involve reclassifying

English-language learners as fluent, targeting secondary students who

arrive with limited or no English skills, and establishing

English-language advisory committees for parents of English-language

learners at each school and at the district level, which has already

happened.

The reclassification is priority No. 1, said Kendall, and includes

improving forms and procedures so the district is certain that every

student eligible to be redesignated is assessed.

As part of the catch-up plan, a multifaceted approach will be used. It

will include primary language support, diverse teaching strategies and

instructional materials geared to the varied levels of English-language

learners.

The advisory committees are a chance for the parents -- who are mostly

Latino -- to get involved, learn about district programs and give

feedback.

And beginning Tuesday, board meetings are now being translated into

Spanish because the district has a Latino population ranging between 20%

and 25%.

The effort to bring Latino parents into the loop is paying off, said

Amparo Ames, the district’s new lead school community facilitator.

“I think they felt lost culturally because so many of them are new

immigrants. . . . Just finding out that we expect them to be involved in

their child’s education process was very intimidating,” she said. “Now

they know what is expected of them, and are willing and able to take on

different responsibilities and participate actively.”

The board of trustees eventually will vote on the plan, and the

district will consider setting up a department to support

English-language learner programs this spring, Assistant Supt. Susan

Despenas said.

Burciaga is especially proud to see her hard work validated.

“It makes me feel very good because that means that all the work and

effort I put into this venture was not a waste of my time,” she said.

“Now I can see that the parents and children are receiving what they are

entitled to.”