School district previews three-year ELL plan; board questions outreach, monitoring and resources

Megan Parenteau, supervisor of ELL/ESOL, presented Sarasota County Schools' three-year English language learner plan at the March 4 work session, describing enrollment procedures, instructional models, family outreach and monitoring steps the district will use before submitting the plan to the Florida Department of Education.

Why it matters: The ELL plan lays out how the district identifies, places, instructs and monitors multilingual learners across schools — including procedures that affect classroom placement, assessment accommodations and the timeline for exiting services.

Plan components and procedures Parenteau said the plan is composed of 11 sections covering identification (home language survey), placement (WIDA screener), instructional models (sheltered instruction and push-in supports), statewide assessment accommodations and monitoring procedures. She said the home language survey is now available in eight languages and that schools can use ILA devices or the LanguageLine service when a family's preferred language is not on the form.

“We developed the plan to outline the strategies and procedures that we will use to provide an appropriate education to our EL students, ensuring that they receive equal access to a quality education,” Parenteau said.

The district described the WIDA screener as the tool that determines initial eligibility for ESOL services; staff said a school-based ELL committee can convene to place a student in services even if the screener score is above standard thresholds. Students who exit ESOL are monitored for two academic years, the plan states, and the district's stated goal is to have students exit the program by year six when appropriate.

Family engagement and supports Parenteau and Rachel O'Day described parent outreach requirements that include annual ESOL family nights (sign-in sheets and agendas are provided to the district) and translation of district and school communications into families' preferred languages. The district reported that, based on recent events, an estimated 50% of ESOL parents attend some school family events but that participation varies widely by school.

Resources, staffing and supplementary programs Superintendent Conner and board members discussed staffing and resources. District leaders said the superintendent committed to ‘‘overstaffing’’ 10 schools to reduce service gaps, an effort Parenteau and Christy D'Souza said will cost in the range identified by staff (characterized in the meeting as approaching roughly $1 million) but was intended to preserve local ESOL liaison and paraprofessional positions that could otherwise be lost during allocation cycles.

The district described two instructional resources used with ELL students: Imagine Learning (a personalized instructional program) and Elevation (a teacher/liaison resource and compliance platform). Parenteau said Elevation was rolled out first to ESOL liaisons and that it reduces paperwork and helps liaisons spend more time in classrooms working with teachers and students.

Monitoring and special cases Staff said monitoring uses academic assessment growth (including standardized tests), teacher feedback and report-card grades; if progress is insufficient staff may reconvene an ELL committee and either continue services or consider other evaluations (for example, to rule out dyslexia or other learning issues).

Next steps Parenteau said no action was required at the March 4 work session; the district will present the ELL plan for board approval at the next regular board meeting. Staff said they will amend the submission if the Department of Education requests changes.

Ending: Board members thanked staff and offered follow-up questions about parent access, transportation for family events and high-school student needs. No vote occurred; board approval was requested at the next meeting.