More Parents Share Concerns About Fischer; Superintendent Promises Better Communication

Parents of Conrad Fisher students packed the Elmhurst District 205 Board room Tuesday night to again tell the School Board they believe changes at the school are resulting in a poor learning environment for their children.

It was a much bigger crowd than had attended the board's last meeting May 29. Some parents said they are just now hearing about the transfer of teachers from Fischer and the new, all Spanish-speaking classes at the school, which they believe segregate students and cause racial tensions.

The district issued a letter last Friday to address some of the issues parents had and explain why the changes are necessary at Fischer. It is all part of a plan that was put in place by the district back in 2010, the letter said, and is necessary to comply with state law.

The letter appears to have done little to quell parents' concerns. 

"This administration has not been completely honest and transparent," one parent said. 

By moving four teachers to other schools in the district and by changing the class structure, "This administration has fractured the teamwork (at Fischer)… to solve a mandate that is passed down from some politician and executed by some bureaucrat that has no interest in our children," he said.

Parents called the district's actions heavy handed and confusing.

"Every child deserves a chance. I get that," Mary Uher said. "But my 6-year-old who speaks English deserves the same chance."

Parents also said families are leaving Fischer and sending their children to private school.

"I don't blame them for moving," Jennifer De Bosschere said. "I considered it myself. But what held us for so many years was the teachers. And you guys got us where it hurts. Why on earth would you move so many great teachers when you know the issues we have at Fischer?"

Several parents said the district must do more to enforce residency.

"It's too easy to get into Fischer by showing a lease and a bill," said John Barrett. "That's very easy to phony up. No one is watching. I understand you have to follow federal guidelines, but my tax dollars should be protected from being spent on nonresidents."

District 205 administrators set aside a portion of the meeting to clarify reasons for the changes.

"It's not that there aren't things we can't change or tweak, but the board has talked before about our limitations in this area," Superintendent David Pruneau said. "But we have to do a better job of communication. It wasn't intentional not to be a good communicator."

Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Charles Johns said the district has been out of compliance with state regulations for English Language Learners for years and, as such, has been flagged by the state. District 205 needed to hire more bilingual staff and more staff trained in English as a second language to be in compliance. At the same time, rather than laying off Fischer teachers to bring in the specially trained staff, they were moved to other schools, he said.

According to state mandates, once 20 or more non-English speaking students are present in a school, that school must provide education to them in their native language. Research indicates this makes them better learners later on, Johns said.

"Instruction in their native language (will give them) a solid basis for learning in their early years" and will narrow the achievement gap in middle and high school, he said. Students are assessed throughout the process so they can migrate out of the bilingual program as quickly as possible.

"Compliance with the law is not optional," he said, citing case law from 1974 that determined students have a right to have material presented to them in their native language. Without that early on, students grades tend to "flat-line" in middle and high school, he said.

"The rate of progress slows tremendously, and research shows it sometimes receding," he said. "That happens because students have enough social language that they can kind of keep pace, but the rigors of middle school are much more, and the need for instructional knowledge is much greater and they can't keep up. This is often the early point in which children make the choice to drop out. They become more marginalized and separated from their peers … with dire consequences."

The program at Fischer will look much different than it has, Pruneau said.

"But frankly, it should because what we've done in the past has not been effective," he said.

Families can expect to see similar demographics districtwide, he said. Madison Early Education Center already has a bilingual program in place.

"I think you're going to see more bilingual (across the district). It's a trend across the country. We're becoming more and more diverse," Pruneau said.

And, it's not just language barriers, but poverty affecting the school, he said.

The poverty rate at Fischer is 60 percent, and it's 13 percent districtwide. We're probably going to see it districtwide go to 15 to 16 percent," he said.

The district has to come up with a remediation plan to deal with the ongoing economic stress and rapidly changing demographics, Johns said.

"We're seeing a lot happening in a community in a relatively short period of time, which all has an impact on the climate and culture of the building," he said of Fischer.

As for out-of-district students, Pruneau said District 205 is one of the most strict around in terms of residency requirements. Some new families even were offended at how they were being treated with regard to proving residency, he said. 

"We've made it as rigorous as possible. We've pursued restitution on past tuition," he said. "We'll continue with that. It's very time consuming and a struggle for us."

That said, proving year after year that a family continues to live in the district is difficult.

"We don't have the manpower to do a thorough review" of every student's residency, he said. But he encouraged parents to notify the school if they hear of a student attending school who is not living in District 205 boundaries.

"We rely on people to call us," he said.

The board will meet with parents at Conrad Fischer school to continue the discussion the evening of Tuesday, June 25. More details will follow.