School board members likely will adopt the Bilingual Committee’s philosophical statement at tonight’s meeting, advocating the experimental Two-Way Immersion program should be the sole program in Evanston/Skokie School District 65.
Committee members told board members two weeks ago that the new bilingual program showed better overall results than the traditional program, Transitional Bilingual Education, which pulls Spanish-speaking students out of classes to learn English.
The Two-Way Immersion program puts both Spanish- and English-speaking students in a class where they speak both languages.
“I’m going to vote in favor of moving ahead with using (Two-Way Immersion),” said Greg Klaiber, a school board member.
Betsy Sagan, another school board member, said she thinks the rest of the board also will vote for the proposal.
“I think the evidence is there that the program is helping kids achieve, especially helping the Hispanic children achieve,” she said.
In other business, school board members said the Fifth Ward school proposal and an evaluation of the district’s special education services also will spark much discussion.
“We’ve already discussed a lot about the Fifth Ward school,” Klaiber said. “Each board member will bring their own individual criteria for voting for the school.”
Superintendent Hardy Ray Murphy has made some changes to the original proposal, Klaiber said, but it is essentially the same plan.
Klaiber said the board must decide by Nov. 18 whether to open the new school by next fall or delay the school and work on remaining issues such as finances. They also could decide to scrap the plan and opt for a referendum — or decide that the school is not needed at all.
“At this point, I would not venture to comment on what we will do,” Sagan said.
The other discussion item is the evaluation of District 65’s special-education programs.
Klaiber said the report looks at the various services the district provides to its different special-education pupils. Although the district has many programs and is spending about $15 million a year for special education, he said there is room for improvement.
The report states one problem as the separation of special education from general education, Klaiber said. The two are considered distinct services, but he said there needs to be a collaboration between them so that pupils in special education are not placed there permanently.
“Once you’ve been earmarked for special education by the third grade, it’s hard to get out of it,” he said.
Another aspect Klaiber said is troubling is that many black, male pupils are being placed in special education programs and the district needs to determine if these placements are accurate.
Sagan said she is looking forward to the evaluation and that the report will address the current state of student achievement in special education services.
“One thing that’s different from what used to be is the ‘no child left behind’ policy of the Bush administration,” said Sagan, who added that the act will impact how special education programs are implemented.
