Bilingual education and programming for new English speakers at the Rochester City School District is under scrutiny for possible inequities.
The state-appointed monitor overseeing the district, Jaime Alicea, highlighted key discrepancies in a school board meeting Thursday.
Alicea provided recommendations on areas of focus for the commissioners and district leaders in his academic and fiscal plan for the upcoming school year, noting that some come from his own observations.
“During my visit to the receivership schools and some of the other schools ... one of the things that we're listening is that the district is adopting new programs, but sometimes the bilingual students, the ENL (English as a New Language) students, are not taken into consideration,” Alicea said.
He gave two examples: that a new sixth-grade curriculum is not in Spanish for bilingual teachers to use, and that an elementary language arts curriculum, Core Knowledge Language Arts, does not have a Spanish component.
He is recommending that the district conduct an audit of bilingual education and English as a new language curriculum and ensure it meets state standards.
"We want to make sure that, you know, we have to do everything the same, but to take into consideration our ENL, our bilingual students, and that we also provide the support that they need,” he said.
Alicea is also putting the Rochester Board of Education to task, with a recommendation that school board members attend additional training to rebuild fractured relationships.
“We have seen, the public have seen, what is happening with interactions at the dais," he said. “As an adult, we don't have to agree on everything that we do. But one thing that we have to agree, and we must agree, is that our actions are going to improve student outcomes in the Rochester City School District.”
Rochester is one of the largest school districts in the state, with high leadership turnover and some of the lowest performing schools. Commissioners overseeing the district, including past ones, have historically demonstrated dysfunctional dynamics.
Alicea recommends the school board engage in professional development provided by the New York State School Boards Association, including a retreat.
Public comments to the state monitor can be made by calling 585-738-2470 or emailing statemonitor@rcsdk12.org. That window is open until July 15.
