Teachers and parents urge district to reconsider proposed English-language program changes; staff say model responds to staffing constraints

Multiple Phoenix Union educators and parents urged the governing board on June 5 to reconsider a proposed change to the district’s English language development (ELD) scheduling model, saying the change would reduce in-school supports for the district’s most vulnerable English learners.

Brielle Guisman, an EL educator with five years in the district, told the board the proposed model would shift students repeating the pre-emergent level to receive only a two-hour ELD block and otherwise place them in mainstream classes without embedded language support. She said the district intends to document compensatory services in a written individual compensatory plan (WICP) and deliver additional help after school, on Saturdays and in summer school. Guisman said relying on out-of-school…