GRAND FORKS -- I'd like to respond to the Herald's story, "Parents: Too many refugees at Century" (Page A1, Oct. 14).
I'm saddened to hear some of the comments and terminology that others have used as a result of this story. Calling people "intolerant" when they are trying to help those in need is heartbreaking.
The petition at Century has let our community start talking about a program that needs help.
We all want the best for English Language Learners in the Century Elementary School. The ELL students add diversity, a different perspective on world views, insight into different customs and traditions and so on. Not all of them have moved here due to hardships, but some have come to our country after years of struggle and pain.
We need to do better by these children. They need more help in adjusting to their new circumstances. I challenge Herald readers to picture themselves in a community where they did not know the language and had little means to communicate. I know I'd be scared by that experience, and I also know we need to do better for these children.
ADVERTISEMENT
How can we do so? Should we divide the ELL program between several schools or move it in its entirety? Whatever is decided must be done so with a goal of giving all children and staff a long-term solution.
If I were in charge, I would divide the program between several schools so that the diversity the ELL children offer could be experienced by young people throughout Grand Forks. That way, we all could gain a better understanding and appreciation of the different cultures that exist in our community.
To pursue this option, the Grand Forks School District would have to come up with more money in order to hire the additional staff it would need.
Currently, the district has the ELL program running on a Magnet School concept. The schools involved are Century, South Middle School and Red River High School.
For its part, Century is rapidly expanding. The school has a recommended maximum capacity of 500 children and currently is over 600.
But simply moving the ELL program to another school eventually would lead to overcrowding in the new location. After all, national trends show that the ELL population is the fastest-growing group of students.
If Century started with about 33 ELL students four years ago and now has about 66, where will the school be in another four years?
And again, no matter which school is assigned the program in its entirety, the population of ELL students would get to be too much. The overcrowding eventually would mean that the ELL students would not get enough exposure to the English language.
ADVERTISEMENT
We need to decide on a long-term plan for the ELL program so that the program and its students succeed.
To start out, we need to look at the results we are seeing from the existing program. If Herald readers look at the Adequate Yearly Progress scores for the Limited English Proficiency or LEP students at Century, they'll see we are far below the goals that have been set.
On the Comparative School Achievement Report, the reading goal was 91.3 percent proficiency, but results were 48.94 percent. In math, the goal was 86.4 percent proficiency, and the results were 58.33 percent.
Readers can look at these results and others at the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction's website, www.dpi.state.nd.us .
Were these the worst results in the state? No -- but neither were they close to the best. Our students deserve better.
Century is a wonderful school with a wonderful staff, but we are exhausting this staff with too many children and not enough support. I don't want to lose any of these staff members as they help so much to mold our children's futures.
I pray that Grand Forks can come together to find a solution that accounts for all of the issues and creates a better environment for all.
Benson is the mother of a student at Century Elementary School.
