Lynn public school educators have sounded the alarm about the need for increased English Language Learner (ELL) training for kindergarten teachers. School Committee members didn’t exactly rush to heed the call when they convened a personnel subcommittee meeting to consider it.
Committee members should have rushed to embrace School Superintendent Dr. Patrick Tutwiler’s proposal earlier this month to get public school kindergarten teachers licensed for English as a second language (ESL) instruction.
But the committee split over Dr. Tutwiler’s proposal with committee chairman, Mayor Thomas M. McGee and members Jared Nicholson and Michael Satterwhite supporting the proposal while members Brian Castellanos, Donna Coppola and Lorraine Gately opposed it, with member John Ford absent from the meeting.
Education depends so crucially in the 21st century on statistics and the way numbers are analyzed. The numbers buttressing Dr. Tutwiler’s call for kindergarten teacher ESL licensing are alarming.
Public schools English Language Learner Education Director Rania Caldwell told committee members that 77 percent of Lynn public school kindergartners speak a language other than English. Two-thirds of those students speak Spanish at home.
In the last five years, according to public school statistics, kindergarten English language learners have increased from 29 percent to 68 percent.
And if those numbers were not sufficient to buttress Dr. Tutwiler’s proposal, consider Caldwell’s statement that English language learners are receiving 15 to 30 minutes of ESL instruction on school days when state guidelines say they should receive 45 to 90 minutes of instruction a day.
“The current system is treating ELL as a minority when they are a majority,” said Caldwell.
Dr. Tutwiler wants new kindergarten teachers to hold an ESL license. He wants existing kindergarten teachers to participate in a two-year licensing program.
Gately spoke for the opposition when she said teachers should not have to spend more time on certification training. We wonder how committee members opposed to Dr. Tutwiler’s plan can examine the numbers presented by Caldwell and not only endorse the plan, but urge its immediate implementation.
Dr. Tutwiler is a thoughtful and eloquent proponent for improving Lynn’s schools and, in calling for the committee to adopt his proposal, he urged them to “match up our actions with our core values.”
We hope the committee will revisit the kindergarten ELL plan and see the value and urgency demanding its approval. After all, they are in it for the kids, right?
