Hispanic Program At Wildwood

Vet, you have to understand that non-english speaking Hispanics were going to be the newest excuse for the failure of the school system. When they realized that we had very few Hispanics (most had left Middletown, saying that if they were going to live in third-world conditions under a totally corrupt government they would have stayed south of the border.) This new effort is to attract Hispanics so they won't have to change their game plan. After all, our schools are proud of being #599 out of 612 school districts and scoring nearly 17% on the state tests.

They are already here, though as mentioned, not in the same force as a few years ago. No work and the county sheriff's vendetta caused many to leave. Might as well give the children the best education possible.

MCSD is a public school district. We are required by law to educate every Middletown child who walks through the doors.  We are required by No Child Left Behind to provide instruction and resources so that each child is able to test "proficient" on the state tests, no matter their abilities or disabilities.  A child who cannot speak English is going to need extra help both learning how to speak English, and becoming comfortable enough with the language to pass the state tests. To offer no special services, and just throw the kid into a regular class with a teacher and other students who speak only a language the kid does not understand, would not be a very effective way to achieve proficiency.  Which would lower the scores for the building and the whole district.

"Most English as a second language programs are paid for out of federal grant funds"

Vet--I didn't say that federal grant funds is not taxpayer money. Of course it is.  I was answering a question of where did the funding for ESOL programs come from.  It is not from local real estate taxes.  Federal grants have requirements as to how the money can be spent.  These particular funds were probably targeted for ESOL--in other words, we would not get the money unless we spent it on ESOL

Ms. Andrew- I simply stated that the grant money came from the taxpayer. Didn't make any difference what the level of government considered. I accused you of nothing.

The Hispanic dinner is a social event, not necessarily an educational one as it applies to classroom instruction and improving the test scores/overall upgrading of the education process. Yes, it has value. Yes, it promotes cultural enrichment. No, it doesn't add to the basic academic issues in the classroom that need so much attention to improve upon.

Good to know that the taxpayers aren't paying for this special event.

"improvement, but not yet enough to move up a rank"- We know. The record has had a skip in it since the 70's. It is still playing that one chord in the song and is getting a little repetitious in nature. Good to know the reasons for the slow improvement times just keep coming. Look forward every year when the proficiency tests are reported, the "5 of 30" indicator areas are reported and the school continuous improvement is reported, to hear the reasons given for the lack of progress. Like many in this town, I'm hoping to hear someday the reasons why we did it instead of the reasons why we couldn't do it, that's all.

Not complaining about this outreach effort at Wildwood. Just asking some questions from a taxpayer's perception. When will you learn to see this side of the fence, Ms. Andrew? You seem to have the school board/education community defense down pat. Where is the concerted effort to learn the citizens point of view from not only you, but the rest of the school board and the entire educational community? You seem to be on a one-way street. I thought the school board was suppose to consider both sides of the fence.

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Bocephus, I can't really speak to the enrollment issue you describe without knowing all the circumstances.  Based on my own experience, I  don't think that a social security number is required to enroll in MCSD.  I agree that there is a space for it on the forms, but there are spaces for lots of information not strictly required (just as an example, parent(s) work phone numbers).