My Father's Books
City Tops In ESL
39 Percent Taking Special English — No. 1 In State
By Jeff Mellott, Daily News-Record. September 27, 2006
HARRISONBURG, VA — With 39 percent, the Harrisonburg School Division is claiming the top spot in Virginia in terms of the percentage of students enrolled in the English as a Second Language program.
Wanda Hamilton, the division’s director of ESL, reported to the City Council on Tuesday that 1,696 of the division’s 4,386 students were in the program on Sept. 15. The school division will make a formal enrollment report to the state based on Sept. 30 attendance.
"Our projection," she said, "is for 50 percent by 2010, and we are on track."
Spotswood Tops
The division’s statistics showed that Spotswood Elementary School has already reached 50 percent. Some 228 of that school’s 452 students are in the ESL program.
It is the largest percentage among the city’s six schools.
Stone Spring Elementary School has the second-largest percentage, 42 percent. Of the school’s 583 students, 243 are in the ESL program.
Waterman Elementary ranks third with 41 percent, with 231 of the 559 students there in the program.
Keister Elementary School and Thomas Harrison Middle School both have 39 percent of their students in the program.
At Keister, 205 of the school’s 530 students are in ESL classes. At the middle school, 356 of the 910 students are in ESL.
The high school, with 32 percent, is the lowest in the division. There, 433 of the 1,352 students are in the program.
The students in the ESL program across the division, Hamilton said, come from 56 countries and speak 46 different languages.
"All of our teachers," she said, "have ESL students."
Cost/Benefit
The additional instruction required for those students, Hamilton said, comes at a cost in personnel, professional development, time and effort.
According to the school division, each ESL student costs the division an additional $1,326.
In Harrisonburg, more than 72 percent of the money comes from the funds allocated by the City Council, compared to 9.3 from the federal government and 18.3 percent from the state.
"The funding will continue to grow, I am sure," said Mayor Rodney Eagle of the city’s share of the cost.
Eagle said he has seen positive results of the city’s ESL program.
"The children that come out of our schools," he said, "are qualified to take the jobs that are continuously coming to the area."
Overcrowded
Hamilton said the growth of the number of ESL students also has costs in "eroding classroom space."
Students who need more intensive instruction are placed, at least temporarily, in smaller classes, she said.
"We are meeting everywhere from hallways to closets, anywhere we can find a cubby," Hamilton said.
The school division is building a new elementary and middle school complex between Country Club and Smithland roads that will hold 1,500 students.
Copyright © 2006, Byrd Newspapers, All Rights Reserved.
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