For schools, a language barrier

PALMYRA — The number of Fluvanna County students who speak only limited English likely will march upward at a steady pace in the coming years, school administrators said Monday.
The school system has 18 limited English proficiency students out of a total student body of 3,843. How the school system will handle a growing LEP population was the subject of Monday’s meeting of the League of Women Voters of Fluvanna County.
A group of school administrators addressed the audience, detailing what the school system does for its LEP students as well as steps that may have to be taken in the future.
According to data presented by Patty Culotta, the assistant superintendent for instruction, the number of LEP students has fluctuated a little in recent years. Culotta expects, however, for the number to rise consistently in the foreseeable future.
“I think we’re beginning to grow,” Culotta said. “Families are staying with us now and not moving on to other places.”
There are no English as a Second Language teachers in the school system.
“The population numbers do not merit that right now,” Culotta said.
But, she added, an ESL teacher may be needed soon at the elementary level if the LEP student population rises.
Fluvanna uses an immersion model in which LEP students learn with the rest of their class, instead of being pulled out for separate instruction.
Schools have computer programs and other materials that aid the process of learning English.
At Central Elementary School, there are 13 LEP students. Twelve are Hispanic and one is Ukrainian.
Most of the LEP students at Central, a K-5 school, already knew some basic English when they arrived but lacked an understanding of academic English, said Karen Decker, Central assistant principal.
“The students at Central are very enthusiastic and motivated to learn English,” Decker said.
Central, along with Fluvanna’s two K-2 elementary schools, Columbia and Cunningham, are in the process of becoming International Baccalaureate schools. The IB curriculum stresses demanding academics with an international focus.
To meet the IB foreign language requirement, students are being taught Spanish once every six days for 45 minutes. Two full-time Spanish teachers rotate among the elementary schools.
The Spanish teachers also sometimes serve as interpreters during meetings with parents of LEP students and translate documents.
There are no LEP students at Fluvanna Middle School, but at least two are anticipated to enter next year as sixth-graders.
Amy Bar-nabei, assistant principal at the middle school, said that a World Cultural Day has been held the last three years to teach students about foreign cultures.
“We want students to get different perspectives,” Barnabei said.
It is more difficult to be a LEP student in high school than earlier in life, said James Barlow, principal of Fluvanna High School.
“Imagine the frustration if you went to France and were told you have to speak French,” Barlow said.
There are 4 LEP students at the high school, although one recently dropped out, according to Barlow.
“We need to be better partners than we have been with these kids,” Barlow said. “If you don’t have a partner, you find yourself in a situation where you can’t relate to anyone and it’s not hard to understand why someone in that situation might drop out.”