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Parents and Staff Urge Lindop Board to Keep PreK Coordinator and Multilingual Support
Summary
At the March 25 special meeting, multiple parents and staff asked trustees to preserve the PreK coordinator role and the Multilingual Coordinator, citing the district's TBE program status and rising Hispanic enrollment and giving the board handouts describing early childhood and bilingual program needs.
Several community members and district staff used the public-comment period to press the board to retain early childhood and multilingual positions threatened by the proposed restructuring.
Clarissa Gillespie urged greater transparency and collaboration from the board and voiced support for Mrs. Opare-Saforo. Jen Zinga, identified in the minutes as the PreK coordinator, distributed a handout and described the importance of early childhood education; Diane Schoenheider, listed as a PreK teacher and coordinator, also provided materials to the board. Diana Dranko and Desarae Braun, who the minutes identify as speaking in the public-comment period, warned that eliminating the Multilingual Coordinator could jeopardize the district's Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE) program as Hispanic enrollment rises.
Additional commenters, including Jalissa Mendez and Guadelupe Almanza, described personal and family experiences with the Multilingual program and urged the board to maintain the coordinator role. The minutes record an interruption when an unidentified person handed papers to board members at 5:51 p.m.; the board subsequently proceeded to discuss the district's fiscal situation and restructuring proposal.
