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Katy ISD teacher warns planned ESL staffing cuts will hurt vulnerable students
Summary
An ESL teacher told the Katy ISD Board that proposed staffing reductions will reduce grade-level ESL coverage for 259 students at her campus and could raise class sizes and eliminate supports such as GT and dyslexia instruction. Trustees said budget pressures and health-plan deficits are driving 'rightsizing' choices and deferred some decisions for further review.
Rachel Justice, an elementary ESL teacher who said she has worked in Katy ISD since 2002, told the Board of Trustees on Monday that staffing decisions currently described as "rightsizing" will remove instructional supports for many English learners. "We have 259 ESL students, over 40 at the beginner or intermediate level," she said. "The truth is many of our ESL students won't get these services next year and their grades and test scores will reflect that."
Justice said her campus currently has five experienced ESL teachers and a paraprofessional, enabling one teacher per grade in first through fifth. She described classroom accommodations — translation, visuals,…
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