Requests for Transfer of Students From Fischer to Jefferson Have Begun

Elmhurst District 205 administrators finally have some answers to how staffing and enrollment will shake out at Conrad Fischer and Jefferson elementary schools this year. Both schools have been in a holding pattern since it was announced that Fischer families would have the option of busing their children to Jefferson under a provision of the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Read more about that here: 

• Fischer Students May Soon Be Able to Transfer to Jefferson Due to Federal NCLB Provision
• Uncertainty Surrounding School Choice Forces District 205 Into 'Holding Pattern'

As of Wednesday, Aug. 7, requests were received for 13 students to transfer to Jefferson. The students are spread across all grade levels, and some children are from the same families, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Charles Johns told the district's Curriculum and Instruction Committee Wednesday.

So far, the breakout looks like this:

• Kindergarten: two requests
• First grade: one
• Second grade: four
• Third grade: two
• Fourth grade: none
• Fifth grade: four

With the exception of fifth grade, staffing at Jefferson so far is not impacted by these transfers. And while the four students in fifth grade would necessitate an additional teacher at Jefferson, Superintendent David Pruneau wants to make absolutely sure those four are confirmed "before we pull the trigger" on an additional classroom.

New Fischer staffing information released Wednesday might have families, even those that already have requested a transfer, rethinking the matter.

"There is some belief within the community and by staff that of those 13, some may pull back," Johns said.

The district has been working to resolve the staffing issues at Fischer with regard to bilingual education since March. Illinois School Code mandates that when a school has 20 or more students from the same language group, the school must offer a Transitional Bilingual Education program. 

For more about the ELL program, check out this presentation. 

Last school year, parents were not happy with the way the district structured staff and classrooms in order to meet the mandate. Teachers were transferred and parents said children were being segregated. A June meeting with Fischer parents shed more light on their grievances.

Calling it a "huge relief," Johns unveiled a solution Wednesday that administrators say will be attractive to parents and beneficial to all students. 

Board members and administrators have been studying the book, "Schoolwide Approaches to Educating English Language Learners," by Dr. Sonia Soltero. This week, Soltero, who is the director of the bilingual-bicultural education graduate program at DePaul University, visited Fischer and reviewed its staffing plan for bilingual education.

"She had a number of concerns with the district plan that she walked the staff through," Johns said. "So we have some direction for the future, in terms of taking the initial plan Fischer staff created, blending it with the staffing plan we created today and filling out the plan for the future."

He said Soltero will return to Fischer to evaluate the progress of the bilingual and ELL plan.

Pruneau said Fischer will serve as a model for the rest of the district.

"This is very important because we know we will have growth in subgroups in the community and demographic shifts," he said. "We need to come up with a district bilingual program as a template, where we see a model of services available for all students in bilingual education transitioning to English programs.

"We came to a conclusion today and we are able to provide services that students legitimately and legally are entitled to. We're confident it's what they need to be successful."

One part of the plan involves Sarah Olague, who has been a teacher and reading specialist at Fischer. She will take on a different role this year, as a bilingual resource teacher for second and third grade.

"(She will be) utilized by the kids and as a resource for staff, especially in the bilingual program," Pruneau said. "We're hoping she will guide teachers with some of the bilingual transition issues. The staff seemed pretty excited about that."

He said he would like to see this model implemented districtwide.

"I would like to see … a learning consultant, a learning resource teacher for every building," he said. "They become coaches for the staff, can intervene with some of the students, can be the data warehouse people in the building to interpret data. Financially, we can't afford that right now, but I think it's a direction we want to start exploring." 

Since 20 to 25 percent of the teachers at Fischer this year are new to the building, "they could use that support," Johns said.

Also on the staffing front, one of the teachers who had been transferred from Fischer will be returning to teach fifth grade.

"That was a concern to members of the community," Johns said. 

Johns also said the fifth-grade classes at Fischer will be smaller this year, "allowing us to make up some ground with students who could use some extra help."

In all, staffing at Fischer will look like this:

• Kindergarten—2.5 teachers: 1 transitional bilingual educator (TBE), 1 general education teacher (GE) and 1 half-time position to be split with Emerson School
• First grade—4 teachers: 2 TBE, 1 transitional program instructor (TPI) and 1 GE
• Second grade—4 teachers: 2 TBE, 1 GE, 1 GE/TPI
• Third grade—3 teachers: 1 TBE, 1 TPI and 1 GE
• Fourth grade—4 teachers: 1 TBE, 1 TPI and 2 GE
• Fifth grade—4.5 teachers: .5 TBE, 1 TPI and 3 GE

Pruneau said he didn't want to hold up class lists and teacher assignments any longer. 

"Based on preliminary school choice numbers, we will staff Fischer as presented here," Pruneau said. "The caution is, if we all of a sudden have lots of school choice next week, we could be overstaffed at Fischer. I think the risk is worth it … to have the class lists out on Friday before the start of school."

Margaret Harrell and the other committee members said they are pleased to see this daunting task finally resolved.

"This is such excellent news," Harrell said.

"It hasn't sunk in yet," Johns replied.

Fischer parents have until Aug. 14 to decide whether to transfer their children.

"We're trying to get them placed before the first day of school," Johns said. "If the numbers stay this small, we should be able to do it."

Correction: The teacher count for fifth grade will be 4.5, not 3.5 as originally reported.
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