LYNN — The Lynn School Committee’s controversial March 25 vote against Superintendent Dr. Patrick Tutwiler’s plan to require all district kindergarten teachers to obtain an English as a Second Language (ESL) license sparked heated conversations among parents, teachers, and community members.
According to Tutwiler, the school district’s English language learners population has increased from 19.8 percent to 31.8 percent since 2017. However, ELLs are only receiving 15 to 30 minutes of ESL service each day, which is much lower than the 45 to 90 minutes that is recommended by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education (DESE).
The Lynn Latino Leadership Coalition has sent a letter to Tutwiler, Mayor Thomas M. McGee, and the School Committee, asking for the committee to support the ESL certification proposal based on those statistics.
“It is extremely important that students, during the start of their primary education, have a teacher trained with an ESL certification to guide them in the inevitable transition of their mother tongue to English,” the letter said.
Magalie Torres-Rowe, president of the Lynn Latino Leadership Coalition, said in a Facebook post that “we have to defend the rights of our children. Kindergarten is the foundation of a student’s learning and success in getting into college.”
Committee members Brian Castellanos, Donna Coppola, John Ford, and Lorraine Gately, who voted against the certification last month, cited reasons such as a rushed rollout and a lack of communication and support.
“This impacts our more seasoned and valuable staff who have been in the system for decades,” said Castellanos. “This shift has retention repercussions.”
Castellanos said some of the teachers’ concerns included that the ESL certification would require them to undergo 150 hours of practicum work, attend several classes, and take the Massachusetts Test for Educator License (MTEL) for English as a Second Language — in addition to transitioning back to in-person learning for the first time in more than a year.
All four committee members who voted against the proposal — which was defeated in a 4-3 vote — wanted to provide the teachers with more time to adjust to the changes of the pandemic before making them partake in more classes and tests.
Gately said she thought the proposal would have received more support if it was mandated by the state rather than the city, and had a successful track record in other communities across the state.
Her main concern, she said, was that the proposal would remove an extra ESL teacher from the room. If kindergarten teachers obtain an ESL license, she said they would no longer have an extra ESL teacher coming into the classroom for support.
According to Gately, a teacher who spoke about that concern explained that, with a classroom of 27 students, she needs the extra ESL support. That teacher felt ESL instruction should be increased to the recommended 45 to 90 minutes a day, she said.
Gately said she has spoken to multiple teachers who are interested in obtaining the certification. She said if they are able to do that, then they are willing to switch positions to teach ESL in multiple classrooms on the 90-minute schedule. The district could then hire new elementary teachers, since Tutwiler said there is not a large enough pool of ESL-certified teachers to draw from.
Ford and Castellanos wanted to adjust the timeline, giving teachers more than two years to obtain the license and allow them to start pursuing it in September rather than right away.
“I just think if there was more teacher input and a better timeline,” said Ford. “When you rush something through, there’s always something that gets missed.”
Committee members Jared Nicholson and Michael Satterwhite voted in favor of the certification requirement because of what they described as the large scale of the problem, and the urgent need to provide more support for EL students. McGee, who chairs the committee, also voted in favor of the superintendent’s proposal.
“I voted to support the superintendent’s ESL proposal based on the fact that we were not providing needed services to some of our most vulnerable students,” said Satterwhite. “Although I voted a different way from some of my colleagues, I understand that the decision was made by the majority and that is where we are today. We still need to adjust the inequities.”
Both Satterwhite and Nicholson said that, as committee members, they accept the vote of the committee but feel that the concerns regarding the ESL issue are valid.
“None of this is about the ability or commitment of our teachers,” said Nicholson. “I think the district is trying to think through the best way to give the educators tools that they need to meet what is really a challenging and pressing issue, and also to do it in a way that is sustainable and creates a district-wide model that can meet the need.”
All six committee members interviewed for this story expressed their concern regarding the need for adjustments within the ESL program. The committee has voted unanimously in the past in favor of a new ESL director and the installation of two dual-language pilot programs at Harrington and Connery Elementary schools.
According to Castellanos, Tutwiler will work with the School Committee’s Personnel subcommittee to adjust the language in the proposal, add extended years to those teachers who have been with the Lynn Public Schools for a certain period of time, and look into accepting only new teachers with an ESL certificate.
“The district will be also working more collaboratively with staff and families impacted by these system changes,” he said.
Tutwiler confirmed the district is making adjustments, and that the administration is “fine tuning the plan and will likely be presenting a revised proposal at an upcoming School Committee meeting.”
