Since our August ed committee, the district has been continuing its due diligence regarding the addition of world language Arabic courses. We've reviewed lenture requirements, ISBY approved programs, established university and community partnership. We've posted EL bilingual Arabic positions to assess the local candidate pool and we've commenced work to align the actual proficiency levels to our learning to our world language courses. And we've begun outreach regarding a history of Southeast Asia and North Africa course. Currently, right now, we are in the administrative review phase regarding Arabic as a world language, pending resolutions to additional decisions and input from our current staff members and community with the goal of bringing forth a recommendation to curriculum advisory education committee and the board of education and then all the subsequent steps would occur as I have mentioned earlier related to our process. As part of our due diligence, the district has conducted a review of the 50 educators statewide who hold a world language Arabic endorsement.
Um >> um J did you on the previous section mentioned that how street you did pruning last year and did not need one this year? >> Correct. Yes. And in spite of that, you think these trees have to come down? >> Uh yes. Uh for reasons that I will get to uh further down in this PowerPoint >> to the board just to help clarify this and and Matthew will go over this in a minute. So when they are doing pruning, they're looking at taking unhealthy limbs off of otherwise healthy trees to make sure that those healthy trees continue to be healthy. um so that they aren't having to be removed later. What pruning can't do is prevent an unhealthy tree from becoming a bigger hazard. And so separately, you have to do removal at some point. Unfortunately, all trees eventually do reach the end of their lifespan.
The this is the required endorsement to teach the course. As you can see, there are seven educators actively teaching Arabic courses across the state. Many of these other educators who hold the endorsement are serving in other roles. perhaps administrators teaching other courses outside of Arabic or they're no longer in the profession or living out of state or even serving as professors. The limited number of available teachers for the position remains an important factor for the success and sustainability of the program. The district has also worked with the South Cook Regional Office of Education and the Illinois State Board of Education to review the pathway for the world language endorsement. Depal University and National Lewis University are the only two universities that ISBY app has approved for a candidate to gain the world language Arabic endorsement. This information is publicly available by visiting the ISV website, choosing the directory of approved programs, and selecting preK through grade 12 and world language Arabic.
And especially with um more extreme weather events, droughts followed by freezes followed by floods, that stresses the trees. And we do get some that unfortunately fall ill and there is just nothing you can do to keep that tree alive. Um, and so as Matthew will go through the pictures, you'll see some of these trees and it's very obvious in some of the photos just how bad they are. There are some where it's less obvious from a photo and Matthew or I will probably have to explain a little bit more of what we're seeing or sometimes hearing from within the tree. um that that makes it more of a hazard that you can't just see with the naked eye. >> Thank you. And I'm so sorry through you, Madam Chair. Becca Solomon is also our tree warden. I just in case somebody newer on the board wasn't aware.
You can see here that Depal and National Lewis are the only approved providers. In addition to the coursework at Depal or National Lewis, a teacher who holds the Arabic bilingual endorsement can add the Arabic world language endorsement to their lensure by passing the ISBY Arabic language proficiency test. A bilingual endorsement on its own does not certify the teacher to teach a world language Arabic course. They must pass the world language Arabic test. A professional educator's license is a foundational license that is required to teach in the state of Illinois. It gives the legal authority to teach within a state. The endorsement grants the authority to teach a specific subject, course, or language. For example, teachers with an educator license in social studies if they would be unable to teach our current psychology class unless they have a psychology endorsement on their professional educator license. In order to obtain the world uh language endorsement or the bilingual endorsement, the training is really focused on two different pedagogical worlds.
>> Yes. Uh it's actually worth mentioning. Becca and I did a sitewalk uh back in February where we looked at each one of these trees. Um and uh my reasoning for having these be on the list um are all things that Becca agreed with in the field. Um so I think it's important to define a hazard tree. What is a hazard tree? Uh first up on the top right we have this fun little matrix table. Uh now this is taken directly from the international society of arboral cultures uh tree risk assessment form. It's nothing specific to utilities. Um and this matrix table is sort of laying out how you analyze how hazardous a tree is. So on the left most column you have how likely is this tree to fail? And if it were to fail, how likely is it going to hit something we care about?
The training for a world language endorsement is centered on language acquisition for new language learners. The training for the bilingual endorsement is focused on how to teach academic content, math, science, social studies in the native language to students who are learning English. A world language teacher is trained to answer how do I say apple in French where a bilingual teacher's training is really helping answer how do I explain photosynthesis to a student who only speaks French there's a distinction between the training model for each of these specific endorsements in addition to the review of the ISBY approved programs and the lensure the district has reached out to establish partnerships with both DEPAL and National Lewis. We have offered to support any candidates with observation hours, student teaching, etc. when those universities have students who are enrolled in their program. We have connected with UIU and Lewis University to share their Arabic 1 and two college credit opportunities this summer.
Um if you have a tree with a hole in it that's leaning over your fence, that's kind of not a big deal. If you have a tree with a hole in it that's leaning over your house, your threshold for what is or isn't a hazard tree uh is much lower. Um now I would argue that anything involving high voltage lines with thousands of volts running through them um qualifies as a uh the consequence of failure qualifies as significant. Uh and that's what the rest of this matrix table is showing is if a tree fails and it hits something we care about, what are the consequences of it hitting that thing? Um when these trees fail, high voltage lines go down to the roads. uh when there's a state park next to House Street. When I was putting when I've been putting this project together, people are walking there.
We have also connected with University of Chicago Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Unfortunately, their dedicated outreach coordinator that worked with K to2 schools is no longer funded. In addition to the university partnerships, the district has posted three bilingual Arabic positions in order to ensure that the district is in full compliance with our bilingual service plan. Hiring for this position ensures that our EL Arabic speaking students receive native language support in their core content, moving to full compliance with the ISBY mandate. It also allows us to assess the local candidate pool and encourage any staff members with the bilingual Arabic endorsement to take the ISBY proficiency test to obtain the world language Arabic endorsement. A teacher who is duly endorsed in bilingual education and world language provides the district with fiscal and scheduling flexibility as these staff members can be split across departments based on fluctuating enrollment numbers.
Um quite often uh cars are driving through here. Um and as well um when these trees go down to the road, when they bring power lines down into the road, they're blocking emergency services. I would argue that anytime um that utility power lines are involved, the consequences of failure are automatically significant in the significant column of this table. um if a tree fails and if it hits the power lines no matter what the consequences are significant. Um and with that logic following this table, all you need is for a tree to be somewhat likely to fail, somewhat likely to impact the lines and you're already at moderate con you're already at moderate risk. Um and it just goes higher from there. Um and then below uh on these uh two lists I uh put uh two columns of things that arborists look for when we assess um whether or not a tree um is likely to fail.
There are still considerations that we need to work through given we would begin with Arabic 1. Committing to a 4-year language program can have significant post-secary implications. Many highly selective universities including UIU, Northwestern, University of Chicago and Illinois Wesian strongly recommend or require students to have a four years of a single language as part of a competitive application. We need to work through the limited number of educators across the state with the world language endorsement to consider the number of levels that we could offer and how we could best sustain the courses long term. We need to consider the impact of the current on our current languages, the financial considerations as well as how we approach the curriculum for the course. Adding a course like Arabic as a world language is unique because of the commitment to a multi-year learning path. As the board might write might remember, last year we added international cuisine as a course.
On the left I have some biological defects. This is stuff like rot, fungus, um if there's tree pests that are stressing the tree out. Is is there deadwood in the canopy? If there are there mushrooms, mushrooms are the kiss of death. Um, nine times out of 10 if there are mushrooms growing out of a tree, the tree is uh functionally dead. I mean, it's going to put out leaves for a few years, but um if the uh if the mushroom is putting the mushroom, the part of the mushroom that you see is the the reproductive parts, uh the majority of the organism exists in small fibers that are um getting into the tree. So, if it's already thinking about reproducing, it's pretty confident that it has its food source uh set up. Uh and then on the right, you have structural and mechanical defects, excessive lean, weak unions, uh if they're touching or extremely close to touching the power lines or they're growing up between the power lines.
It was a semester course and not part of a four-year sequence. Thus, many of the additional considerations were not necessary to launch an Arabic program successfully. The desk the district could initially offer it as an elective opportunity for one or two years allowing for a phased implementation that builds student interest and sustainable enrollment while also managing some of the potential staffing challenges. This strategic first step provides flexibility to establish the curriculum, assess the candidate pool uh before committing to a full 4-year program. A 1.0 0 full-time equivalent teacher can serve a maximum of 150 students. So, when we consider the number of students we can serve, a one or two-year course allows us to serve more students than a traditional 4-year program. Here's an example of what growth would look like with a 4-year sequence. If we begin with two sections of students, you can see point4 FTE or full-time equivalent teachers assigned.
Um is there previous storm damage? If a tree has dropped a limb in a storm, it has one, that's a sign that it's been stressed already because um it dro it already dropped a limb that it should not have. And then two, on top of that, it just lost a large amount of its ability to feed itself with the loss of the leaf production. Um, so I all all taken together, these are the things that we look at and if we go on a sitewalk, which I believe is the plan, um, these are all things that I will be very happy to point out. Um, so I got two photos. Uh, here is a a or two ash and a pine. Uh, the pine is all the way on the right. It's stone cold dead. Um, I think that one um is a pretty easy one.
As students metriculate through the program and other world language courses, we typically see those students remain through year 2, our trend data suggests that about 30 to 40% of students do not continue with a language year three or four. Hence, with the point 2 you see there in year three and year four, we could anticipate significant growth in enrollment over time. With a 4-year commitment, we could see year four requiring more than 1.0 you know, full-time equivalent teachers just to meet demand. If this program is implemented across the three buildings, the growth could be multiplied by three, potentially straining current staffing, impacting students choices and post-secondary implications. Therefore, a one or two-year program or the program offered in one building could more adequately perhaps support the growth while maintaining a program. Please note this is a sample projection about the FTE that's assigned by the number of students who request a course.
the two ash in the middle. Uh there is an invasive pest going around. Uh it's pretty it's it's not it is endemic to eastern Massachusetts. It's in basically every ash. If it's not in the ash already, if you're not treating the ash today, it's going to get it's going to get emerald ashbor. And this is a bug that has a 99.9% fatality rate. Um these are even if they put out leaves next year, these are dead trees standing. Um, this is a photo of what I imagine will be um, one of the more controversial parts of this project. So, I wanted to talk about it here. Um, what we have is these line this line of small stemmed oaks that are grow that are leaning in from across the road. Now, they're leaning in from across the road because that's where the light's coming from.
All of that is determined at the course selection process. Another consideration is the distinct curricular approaches for teaching Arabic world. It would be perhaps L2 language acquisition kind of foreign language acquisition for students who have no experience with the language or for heritage speakers who speak the language at home. a native speaker or an L1 as you see here is already fully fluent. They could pass the seal of biiteracy and we would encourage them to take a world language course, right, that they're they're all ready not fluent in to build their acquisition in another language. A heritage speaker is fluent or receptive in a home dialect, often with little or no formal literacy instruction. For heritage speakers, the goal is to connect the home language with the formal written language. A second language learner or L2 as we call them has had no prior exposure to the language.
If you look to the right, the forest is there. Um, they're going to go towards the light. So, the only way the only way for these trees to grow is going to be up and over our power lines in a way that pruning is not really sufficient uh to control. These trees are only ever going to be an issue. Um, a lot of them have small canopies which make them more prone to wind throw or excuse me of being knocked over by the wind. Um, and several of them have other defects such as rot in the base or cracks um that just sort of compound uh the risk factor. Um, so here's my little tree, here's my little summary page. Um, and I brought up the uh the matrix table again just because it's nice little thing to have. Um, on my list are 46 trees varying in size class.
The primary goal is acquisition and the instructional focus is on high amounts of comprehensible input. This is the approach of our current world language courses. Our decision on whether to focus on one approach or both to adopt would be crucial as it would directly impact the type of students we serve, the goals we set for the program, and potentially how we would section the courses and determine the teaching need. Here is the current world language FTE for all three buildings. When we add a new course, we consider how it impacts our other current course offerings. We know that approximately 80% of our students currently take two years of a language. When we look at our special populations like our EL students, our special education, we find that very few students outside of those special populations choose not to take take a language. Given this high participation rate, adding a new language will likely draw students away from our current Spanish, German, and French offerings, potentially impacting the enrollment numbers needed to sustain our current full-time staffing in those areas.
A majority of them are 18 in or smaller. That would qualify them as young trees. These are not mature trees. The majority of these are not mature trees. Eight of these are ash that are infected with emerald ashbor, which is again a 99.9% fatality rate. And five of them, not counting the ash, are dead. Uh so that's that's uh 13 trees um that are either dead or functionally dead. Um, and below that, um, I put together my hazard ratings, uh, for these trees. Um, if you look at the matrix table, um, you see the extreme end, there's four different hazard ratings. You probably have noticed that I only have three hazard ratings. That's because if you hit extreme, uh, when you're looking at this table, that means you need to run away from the tree because it's coming down like today. Um, so if if anything rates as a four, that is an emergency situation.