Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Bilingual Education topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Second‑grade teacher urges switch from dual‑language to heritage‑language program, cites class size inequities
Summary
Lisa Randall, a second‑grade teacher at Enos Garcia, told the board she supports moving from a dual‑language model to a heritage‑language program so all students receive Spanish instruction; she cited one class with 27 students versus a dual‑language class with 13 and described challenges admitting late‑arriving students into dual language cohorts.
During public comment at the May 27 board meeting, Lisa Randall, a second‑grade teacher at Enos Garcia, urged the board to transition schools from a dual‑language model to a heritage‑language program that would provide Spanish instruction to all students.
Randall said she had 27 students in her class this year while a co‑teacher in the dual‑language class had 13, which she described as an inequitable distribution of students and classroom workload. She said a heritage model would ensure every student receives Spanish instruction rather than a small cohort and stressed the importance of teacher morale in the decision.
Randall also noted that students who did not enter the dual‑language program in kindergarten — such as a child who moved in from another state — are not currently able to join those cohorts later, forcing them into regular education classes. She described classroom management and social‑grouping challenges that can develop in long‑running dual‑language cohorts.
The board thanked Randall for her remarks and her years of service.
