COMMERCE CITY — Parents and teachers Wednesday night began rebuilding the Adams 14 School District’s bilingual program, which has been criticized by the state as ineffective but defended by some as welcoming to Spanish-speaking students.
Teachers in an early session Wednesday evening emphasized that the district needs a comprehensive bilingual approach, as well as more qualified teachers. In a later session, parents said the students should still be taught in their native Spanish to make the transition to English easier.
“We like for our kids to learn their native language so we could help them with their homework and help them learn English,” said parent Gerardo Galvan. “That way we can make them good, productive citizens.”
A second forum is scheduled tonight at Kearney Middle School, 6160 Kearney St. in Commerce City. The ideas from both gatherings will be pieced together by a design team, which will roll out a new bilingual plan this summer.
Last summer, the district got failing marks for its existing bilingual effort from a group of education experts from across the state. Their report said, in part, that the Adams 14 bilingual plan was a “hodgepodge” of programs and strategies. The English as a Second Language and Spanish literacy programs were not fully planned, and evaluation and monitoring were weak, the report said.
“It seems different programs are going on in different buildings,” said Frank Davila, one of two education consultants hired by the district.
But when the district began to re-examine the program this year, several parents at Hanson prekindergarten-to- eighth-grade school yanked their kids out of Colorado Student Assessment Program tests in protest. The parents were also upset at the removal of principal Judy Jaramillo, who in February was placed on paid administrative leave for undisclosed reasons.
Fifty-four percent of Adams 14’s 6,500 students are English-language learners, and the state study said few of them are becoming fluent in English as they move through the district’s schools.
District officials said the forums this week were aimed at constructive dialogue and were not to lay blame.
“We are here to make sure the children succeed,” said Lynda Franco, the district’s other education consultant.
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
