New Philadelphia honors students exiting English-language proficiency program

Good evening. At the Sept. 10 New Philadelphia City Schools board meeting, Nick Haskins, the district English Learner (EL) director, recognized students who met Ohio English-language proficiency standards and are exiting the EL program. Haskins called students to the front of the meeting to receive certificates and acknowledged their test performance and exit from the program.

The recognition matters because exiting the EL program signals a student has met state- or district-level English-proficiency expectations and is no longer eligible for EL services. “I have the honor of recognizing students that took their Ohio language, English proficiency test last year and based on performance, were proficient and exiting the program,” Haskins said when he introduced the recognitions.

Haskins read a list of student names aloud and presented certificates. Board members responded with congratulations; several members offered brief remarks to students as they received certificates. The event was presented as a ceremonial recognition only and did not include any formal board action or policy change.

The transcript lists many student names that were read aloud during the recognition. The board did not provide a total head count in the meeting record. No additional funding, program changes, or follow-up actions were proposed at the time of the recognition.

Board members recessed regular business after the recognition and proceeded to other agenda items, including finance and personnel approvals later in the meeting.