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Montgomery proposes ESL family liaison and four itinerant bilingual paraprofessionals to support 4,000 multilingual students
Summary
ESL specialist Heather Miller asked the board to approve one district ESL family liaison/interpreter and four part‑time itinerant bilingual paraprofessionals to improve language access for more than 4,000 multilingual students and families; funding would include Alabama RAISE Act dollars and Title III funds are available.
Heather Miller, the district's ESL specialist within Academics and Accountability, presented a proposal July 14 to create one district ESL family liaison/interpreter and four part‑time itinerant bilingual paraprofessionals to strengthen communication between schools and multilingual families.
"Currently, in the district, we have over 4,000 students and families that speak another language in their home," Miller said. "That's not just Spanish. We actually have over 50 different languages represented in our district." Miller described the district liaison role (translation of documents, enrollment support, parent workshops, and meeting support) and a flexible feeder‑zone model for itinerant paraprofessionals to cover multiple schools as needed.
Miller said the positions are designed to improve meaningful access and compliance with federal and state language‑access requirements and noted that the Alabama RAISE Act provided funding to expand services for multilingual families. When asked how many positions would be hired, Miller said the plan is one district liaison and an initial four itinerant paraprofessionals placed across feeder zones, with a goal to expand if additional funding or qualified applicants are available.
Board members sought clarification. Dr. Kim urged a deeper look at scale given that Spanish speakers alone number in the thousands; Miller acknowledged the limitation that no single hire could cover all languages and said some ESL teachers are bilingual and would continue to provide support. Board member questions also confirmed the district receives Title III funding for English‑learner services.
What happens next: Miller said the proposal was developed with HR and other central staff; the positions and any required funding allocations will be brought forward as part of staffing or budget actions for board consideration.
Attributions in this article are taken from the July 14 meeting transcript.
