001We are live. >> Good evening everyone. Welcome to our first inaugural edition of Tea with Dr. Z. A space where we come together as a community to have open honest conversation about our schools, our students, and the work ahead. I am Dr. Earra Herman, superintendent of Ammeris Pelum and Ammeris Pelum Regional Public School Districts, better known as Dr. Z. and I'm grateful to have you join us in this wonderful space of connection, conversation, and community. This series is is grounded in a simple but powerful belief. When we commit to teaching all our students, we must be willing to meet every student where they are and ensure they have what they need to thrive. So, tonight's conversation reflects that commitment. We will be focusing on how we support our multilingual learners across our district. and I
002am joined by none other than Miss Celia Synowski whose expertise in this work guides how we serve and uplift our students. Hi Celia. >> Hi Dr. Z. Hi everyone. >> Glad to be here tonight. >> Thank you. So together we're going to discuss our multilingual learner program support for English language learners and take a deeper dive into our kaminantis program and community. This is not just a presentation it is a conversation. So towards the end, we will have a live Q&A. So go right ahead and drop your questions into our YouTube chat. Thank you for being here this evening. So Celia, I'm going to jump right into this. Um, so we're going to talk about our MLE program in the district and just get like a foundational understanding of the goal like helping families understand
003what exists and what matters. So can you start by explaining to me or to the community what we mean by multilingual learners in our district? >> So I have the privilege of um directing and overseeing several departments. One of them is the English language learner or ELE. Sometimes the acronym is ELLL as well. Um and those are for our English language learners. Um so students that come into the district who whose second language is English, they speak other languages. Um and so how we identify them we go through a whole process and I also oversee kaminantes um as well the dual language program for Ammerst. >> So the community you know we know about individuals who English is their second language and my question is like what does the MLE program look like? Um we
004serve three districts. We have two elementary districts the pelum elementary and Ammeris elementary and then we have the region which is 712. So what would our MLE program look like in our K6 programs versus our region programs? >> So um let's start off with how we identify students. So the process we have to make sure that we support all students uh wherever we have to meet them where they're at, support them where they're at, provide them services if needed. So when students register into Ammeris um at the family center at the registister's office um families caregivers they fill out a form a Google form or it could be paper or online and that form has a lot of information on it. Now one of the questions that they ask is um do they speak another
005language? There's a series of questions. So it could be does the student speak another language? Do uh what language is predominantly spoken at home? Do they have grandparents that speak another language? Because that is a factor as well. Did they come from another country? Um when that get any of those choices, um their names get placed into a spreadsheet and that's a live spreadsheet. So for example, I I received like six today just alone. Um and >> registration time, >> the registration time. And um as I get that information, I need to be able to identify whether that student is an ELLL student >> um or they're not. And we do that by testing. So we give them the WEDA screener. >> And the WEDA screener um we test them in the four domains, reading,
006speaking, listening, and writing. And that test will determine whether that student is proficient in English. And if they're not, then we have to determine how many minutes of services uh or service do they receive a day in order to reach proficiency in English. >> And so we do that K6 and the region. >> Yes. K6 and the region. All students. >> So when students are identified as needing services or minutes in each day, how how do we what services are they eligible to receive and what does it look like? So when we identify, so the process of identifying could get a little tricky because sometimes students um were born here in the United States. Um and but they speak another language at home. We that's kind of a filtering system. We need to be able
007to filter whether that student really is proficient. They might tell you I've spoken English since birth. I really don't need services. But we still need to test them because we need to make sure that we are following the procedures that the state tells us to follow. And so we still will test that student and once we test them and and they goes from levels one all the way to six um it will determine how many minutes. So once a student let's say that they get a two a level two >> um they will uh one is newcomer a student that has just arrived here and then they can place out when they reach a 4.2. Um if they are at a level two that's going to tell us that they need um two periods of
008services per day. Um, and then depending on the school, um, we will we will have, uh, with the ELLL teacher, with the classroom teacher, um, we will determine how we're going to provide those minutes per day for that student. >> So, they may it might look like we might have them for a long block during the day or sometimes we may be able to provide them services in the morning and then in the afternoon depending on what's going on in the school and the student schedule. >> Do do we provide services in the classrooms? Um, so that would be pushin because there so for people that are not familiar with the language, pushin is when the student is able to access curriculum and they just need a little support, then the ELLL teacher will go
009into the classroom and provide support. Now, when they are newcomers or they are new students or new to our district, new to our country, we will do pullout services and that is more um in a small classroom setting with the ELLL teacher, maybe a few other students where they're uh they're getting provided with um explicit English instructions. It could be phonics, it could be reading, it could be writing depending on the level of that child. >> So, I guess the the there's a lot of terms that we use in education each and every day. And so I hear you say newcomer. Um I hear like there's different things like so explain a little bit about what is a newcomer versus you said a four a student who's at like a 4.2 or a six like
010how how does that work for us? >> So um yeah so there's a lot of you know in education there are a lot of acronyms. >> Yes. >> And so um we say um FEL is a is a term we use is formerly English language learner. Those are students that those are students that have uh tested a 4.2. They no longer need services, but we still need to monitor them. Okay. >> Then we also have um ELLL students who have been identified as scoring a 4.2 or below that we need to provide them services um every day. Um then we have slice students who are students who are ELELLL students and also students with interrupted schooling uh due to you know uh specific amount you know uh reasons. Um and so when we say newcomer
011we we mean new to the country but usually um that's how we like identify if they're newcomer versus like someone that was born here and um they speak another language in the home. So I guess for me is to acquire the English language and and in the training like I didn't specialize in in this field like you are and so it's really great to like engage with you and hear not just to see and to hear your passion for making sure that our students get get what they need. I guess it's what are your goals like for when you come into the district each and every day districts cuz there's three of them each and every day. What are your goals for the MLE program like for students academically and and more socially? >> Mhm.
012So, um I do big picture as well as small picture as well as day-to-day and so I can you know this one of the initiatives that I had was to be able to provide teachers with training for um SEI strategies in the classroom to be able to support all learners. um they we've been providing training during faculty meetings um during professional development days to be able to provide teachers with the strategies to be able to um teach all students in front of them not only um students from Ammeris but students from other countries because the the numbers are increasing of our students. We need to be able to support them. They're all of our students. And then something as small as you know we had MCCAST today. Does that individual student have a dictionary you
013know in their language? And so I do big picture, but I also deal with the day-to-day in the classroom or if a student um if if a teacher needs to figure out how many minutes a student needs, they will message me and say, "What is your recommendation? What does the state say?" And so I'm involved in all areas of of of um MLE or ELELLL students um to be able to provide them with um the access to our curriculum, be able to provide them with um support inside and outside of school. Um we do after school um biliteracy club on Mondays at forever. >> Um and we are able to provide them with an hour of English tutoring as well as an hour in their language, their native language. Um and then we are also
014um offering summer achievement academy for ELLL students. Um, and so we will do K to three and then we are looking at having a sum summer achievement academy at the secondary level as well because a lot of >> Yes, go ahead, Dr. Z. >> And I was going to say, how would the community, how would a parent who wants to sign their child up for that program, you know, um, sign up? Where would they get in contact with you? >> So, yeah, that's the tricky part. So, right now, we were sending out messages um, through Parent Square, and we know that not everyone is able to access that. So then on my to-do list this week and next week cuz I have some deadlines um is I'm going to be have to call the homes
015to be able to make sure that the families receive the message and and be able to provide that we do serve breakfast and lunch during these programs. We'll have transportation provided for them as well. Um and so working with um the teachers um and working with transportation and um the department that that provides meals for us. It's a big team effort. Um, but one of my goals is to be able to provide supports for those families that need that extra support. >> I guess in in hearing all of that, the the question we talked about your goals and what the program looks like, how do we measure the success of multilingual learners in the district? Like what are you tracking? How how do you feel? How when do we know that you've been successful? >>
016So, they get assessed a lot. All students get assessed a lot. But when >> too much sometimes >> but when we look at um ELLL students they get they get a lot of assessments that measures um how they're doing and and they take something called the tell and that's a a standardized test that they take um in the be beginning of the year and then they take it at the end of the year and that kind of measures beginning of the year um the baseline and then how they um have progressed throughout the year and then um in January they take the access which is um the the mandatory exam that you know we and the state gives us and so they also take that exam and those scores have just you know been released
017to us and we'll we'll look at that data. So in May as a department for the district, we're going to look at that data and say this is what this is how we've done. This is what we need to work on. It drives our instruction. It drives how we schedule kids for next year, especially with Amethyst Brook where we'll have a 100 plus ELLL students in a building. And so we're going to look at those numbers, look at where they are, their English proficiency level, and we'll sit down as a team and say, "This is what's going to work best for this student. this is how many minutes of services. Um yeah, we look at all of that. A lot of assess assessments, data teams, um chats with teachers, um specialists and everything like that.
018>> So would it also be like when they hit that 4.2 or that six and they're like So do we transition children completely out of the program? >> Yes. So once they have reached a 4.2 to um proficiency um and that's a composite. That's an average of their speaking, reading, listening, and writing. Um they will test out they will no longer need those daily minutes. You know, by the time they're at that level, they need one um period, one block of of English services per day. Um but we still need to monitor them. So after they have tested out, we still monitor them for four years. >> Okay. >> Um and the way that that looks is we're still going to track how they're doing. We're still going to track how they're doing. we're still
019going to see how they're doing throughout. Um, so I have them on a list and then we'll say, "Hey, how are they progressing in their classes? We'll have meetings about them to see how they're doing to be able to follow that data along the way." >> Dilia, I mean, thank you community. We're here with Celia Sakowski with our first inaugural te with Dr. Z. Um, and you know, there's so many things that we're learning as a district, but one thing we want to do is tell our narrative and talk about the programs that we offer and from the experts in the field and and have the opportunity to delve in. And so, if you're listening right now, we're talking we just talked about delving into understanding the multilingual the MLE program in districts. Um, and
020we're going to transition in this segment to talking about what supports for English language learners and deepening our understanding of just the supports that you and the educators do um for families. And so kind of make that visible and talk about the the tangible in it. Um, and again, I am just it's very hard for me to sit here and act like just a host when I know a lot, but it's it's even better to just hear it again from you. So, I want to jump in with, you know, um, everyone knows that there's a classroom teacher and we talked about having the supports between push in or pull out in in there. So, tell me a little bit of how do general education, the classroom teachers and our MLE specialists, you know, our ELLL
021teachers work together to support students like what does that look like? Is there planning involved? You know, can you talk a little bit about that? So it really dep so ideally they would have a period of time throughout the day or or the week where they can sit together because it really is a team of people. So that classroom teacher needs to know what the ELLL teacher is doing and vice versa. Um sometimes they don't get the time. They have quick conversations and then other times they'll have time to really sit down and and chat um and discuss what the student needs. It's a lot of um conversation. they do include me in the conversations as well. Um because a lot of times a classroom teacher, they're experts in what they're teaching, but not necessarily
022on policy on what we're supposed to provide for them, what legally we're per supposed to provide for them. So teachers in the district are really good with asking questions and they're saying like what should I do, you know, um what, you know, what what should I be doing as a teacher? Um and so yeah, the relationship between the ELLL teacher and the classroom teacher is very important. So ideally it would be time to plan and and time to look at data um to see how they can best um serve the students. Um so we have we have two curriculums. We have the curriculum that the district has which is magnetic and then we have an ELLL curriculum um in Ammerst which is called reach higher um and then we're currently um looking to purchase curriculum
023for the secondary level um which in a few weeks we'll be deciding that. But the reach higher really provides that curriculum um for ELLL students and so the language supports um it has science and social studies a lot of times those students cannot access the curriculum in the classroom um and so with the classroom teacher and so that's when the the ELLL teacher has the chance to pull out that student to be able to teach language and content >> um and so because the two are very important where the classroom teacher, they're the expert in the content, right? Whereas the ELLL teacher is the expert in the language as well as the content. Um, so that's how we uh do that as well. Um, so yeah, planning time, getting together, data chats where we'll be
024able to look at individual students also with assessments, also with um social emotional behaviors, right? A lot of our students that come from other places um that's another factor as well. They're getting used to our culture, our country. Um, it's really a multi-tered system of how to provide services and support for our students. >> I guess when we talk talk about the the English learner or the MLE program, we're we're talking about language acquisition, not solely. So, hearing you talk about content, it's not that children don't know or like they may come in in high school and it's not that they don't know algebra. is that the fact that the language is the barrier for them to be able to explain themselves. So I guess for me is how does the language acquisition or development
025look like across the grade levels? And I know that you talked about it's about where they are if they're a newcomer not newcomer to school but newcomer to the language or they they have some learning. How does is the scale matter or does it the acqu like where does it hit with acquisition? Um, so we have to activate prior knowledge, um, background knowledge because I'm glad that you brought brought that up, Dr. Z. A lot of times when students come, especially when they're a little older and at the secondary level, they already know algebra. They already know geometry. It's not that they cannot access the curriculum. It's the language piece. So that's when we try to when they first get here, that's when we kind of uh pull them out so they can get enough
026English to kind of go into the classroom. So the ELLL teacher will pull them out for a little while, right? They need they still need those services, those minutes that are mandatory, right? Right. >> But but the classroom teacher, whatever subject that classroom teacher will be teaching, you have to figure out and kind of extract that. And that's where your relationship with students comes in, right? They also recommend that you kind of have a little interview either with an interpreter or on a document where the student could really share what they already know because they they will already know these skills, right? So, math is math, right? They're going to learn they may learn it differently than how we teach it here in the United States, but it becomes a little easier where the teachers
027will now have to use their um SEI strategies, right? So, what how can I allow this student to um access this, right? um they're going to provide captions. They're going to allow um have a dictionary images. They're going to give students more e extended time. So, that's something that I've been working on um as the director with teachers on I model lessons for the teachers in the district as well on how to be able to for those students that already have the background knowledge. How could we um have them access that curriculum just by using different strategies in the classroom? So it's really good to hear like because a part of a lot of the part of the DESIE requirements for teachers is that they have some level of SEI endorsement. >> So so even
028a general the general classroom teacher has an understanding of SEI strategies to get their license right and so administrators as well. So everyone has some understanding they may not be there dayto-day but they have some understanding around some strategies and I just recently learned some strategies too. going to take a wonderful course. Um, [clears throat] and so it really helps us to to delve deeper. And then I firmly believe that, you know, for a child to succeed, it's the school, the community, and then families. So, how are families engaged and supported in just like supporting their child's learning journey cuz many of for many of them, they don't have the language acquired either. >> So, we have the multilingual parent advisory council that meets once a month. Um and so we meet monthly online um
029and the parents come and they it's an open space where parents could we have topics that we cover um from an agenda but then we give them time to share what their struggles are where they would like support. Um it could be something like um they wanted um a time to meet more students that speak their language. You know, maybe their their child is lonely and they would like to create a play group or maybe a reading group at the library in town, right? It could be something like that. Or maybe they their child needs more support in math and we need to provide an afterchool program for these families. So that's where it's a space where we kind of cover district-wide initiatives, things that that are going on in the district, but as well
030as a space for them to be able to share any concerns, any questions, and we we usually address it right away. So if it's an issue at a school or a program that they want implemented in our district, um we try to follow up pretty quickly. So that that means monthly um from 7 to 8 and it's uh usually on yeah it Max Clemens um who is our um beracy coordinator our sea bacy coordinator um and I facilitate that meeting. I guess, you know, we should have started off with this question a little bit earlier, and I'm jumping into it now. Around how many languages do we serve [laughter] here in in the in the districts? >> Oh, a lot. I don't know the number, but we have uh and we have a lot of
031So, we interesting enough, we have an interpreter course happening right now. And so, we're currently in a course where we're training in the district interpreters. So they'll be able to interpret during special education meetings, during parent meetings, and Ammerst ash actually had they told us the the hardest courses uh languages to find. So >> we had um some interpreters that were uh studying Turkish and Korean and Arabic. Um we have Tigrina and Farsy and um Haitian Creole. And so we have a lot of languages um in our district. Spanish is the most common, but we do have a lot of languages, a lot of diversity, >> and and to be an interpreter, you have to have a certain level of certification according to Desi too. >> Yes. And so there are certain levels. So there's
032um so tier one, the state kind of provides an online course that you take and you kind of go through the modules. Um, tier two is is just like parent communication between the families. And then there's an extensive one that after they complete tier two, tier three is more like specialized um interpretation uh through um special education meetings through that through that coursework. >> So when we interpret for for um for families, we do different meetings. Do we also do written interpret interpretations like >> we do letters? Um so that's something that we have to provide. Um and so we outsource document. So we have indistrict translators cuz translator is written interpreting is speaking when you're when you're doing um and so we have in-house translators that do documents and then anything that we don't
033have we outsource to UMass translations. >> Okay. >> And then another company um as well. So, you know, community, we're delving into our MLE program, our ELELLL, how do we support our English language learners, um, and we're talking about the good stuff, but our job in a district comes with some challenges. So, if I had to ask you, what challenges do our English learner students face and how or how can we work to address them or what is being done to try to address it? What would you share? Yes, we have a lot of positive things, but then we have a lot of things that that um that we need to work on as a district or just myself, goals that I have and and just by looking at data and analyzing data, one thing
034that continues to um occur with our um ELLL students uh are low test scores um and in English and ELA and math and in all areas. And so we if we look at data um it's kind of alarming. It's not only it's not a problem only Ammerst you know or in our district it's all over the country and so we really need to figure out what what is why why is that happening what can we do as a district where is the disconnect um and provide the supports you know so we're we're looking at providing summer we do after school right now we do after school um club we do summer but what what else how can we identify those gaps and how could we help them so that they are um at the same
035level as their peers because as of right now um their test scores are alarmingly low compared to their peers in the district. >> So I mean we could always say the the most obvious is oh the language right like language acquisition but we also talked about language and content is two totally different things. Um do they take the testing in their native language or do they take it in English? So if we're testing their um English proficiency like the access and the tell they will take the test in English. Okay. >> Now when we do science MCCAST um we >> they we do have it in Spanish and English for the science MCCAST as well as the math. um they it's kind of like in both languages but Spanish is not our only language right
036and so when we have MCCAST or when we have other tests um standardized tests we are able to provide um desi approved dictionaries for them that they say yes they can use a dictionary um that is wordto word it can't have sentences it can't have phrases but at least that will provide some support as well as when a student first moves um here and registers into our our district. Um, they get an exception of one year where they don't have to take the ELA, MCCAST, but they do have to take science and math no matter if they just arrived. >> So, what I'm hearing is there's equity, there's access, but then there's still some challenges in terms of how are they retaining the information or sharing it back out. And that's where the SEI strategies
037and everything else comes in. Um, but I also heard you're you have your finger on the pulse and so now it's for a deeper dive around what it is that's occurring. >> Yes, we need to take a look at socioeconomic factors. We need to take a look at political factors as well as the state of what's going on um in our country and in our districts. And um there's there are a lot of other factors that play into why students are testing or doing the way they're doing in school. And so those are things that as a as a director, I would love to identify those gaps to be able to provide those supports, come up with a plan to be able to close those gaps because it is more than just testing. It is
038more than just language. It's more than content. There's a lot more that we we need to identify. Thank you. So community, I'm here. I'm Dr. ECR Herman, superintendent of the Ammerst Pelum and Ammerst Pel Regional Public School Districts. and you're joining us with tea with Dr. Z. Today we have Celia Sakowski, our MLE administrator for the districts and we're talking all things MLE ELLL and now we're about to transition to our third se section or segment which is about our Cabinantis program and we're going to address interest questions and some misconceptions here. Um community please drop your Q your questions in the um YouTube chat. we definitely would want to share and answer those questions as they come up. Um, so Celia, I think I want us to talk about just like from the lens
039of equity and program sustainability and just what's happening. This is a big transition year for Ammeris. Um, we're going from three physical buildings to two buildings and a program in the middle school. Um the two buildings are going to be K5. Um all of our majority of our programs are going to be in Amethyst Brook and then we have our sixth grade Chestnut Street Academy. So things are going to look just a little bit different. Um there's also the conversation around the possibility of what how can we serve our students for Kamantis when they come to the region. Um because again it's three separate districts community. So Kamasis is an Ammeris elementary program. Um the region serves four towns. Ammeris, Leid, Pelum, and Shootsbury. Um Pelm, Levid, and Shootberry don't have a a common artist
040program, but I think they have they they do have their own version of language programs, I hope. So, let's start off with talk about what the common artist program is. And this is Cyia's really like first year in the district. So, this is coming from your new lens. Um what the common artist program is and who who we serve. So, uh, coming at this program, we're excited. This is the first year where the sixth graders would be the first cohort to have completely, um, since kindergarten gone through the program. Wow. And so, since the the beginning of the program, there's been a lot of changes. Originally, the program was um 50% uh, you know, 50/50, which those of you that are not familiar with dual language, um, 50% of the day is in English and
04150% is in Spanish. Um that's how the program started. Uh we now have changed our language allocation. Um and so kindergarten through first grade um 90% of the day is in Spanish, 10% in English. Um next year grade 2 will be 80% in Spanish, 20% in English. And then 3 to 6 is 50/50. Um and so that means that 50% of the days in Spanish and 50 in English. Um we're collecting that data. So right now we have the data for the sixth graders, right? How much how much have they learn? We like I said, they have a lot of testing, a lot of assessing throughout their their career in dual language during their time. And so we're able to take that data and say like, you know, this is how it worked in the
04250/50 model. Just by us going into the classrooms with the 9010, the the students are learning a lot more quicker because they're 90% of their day is in Spanish and 10%'s in English. And so even the siblings where you know they have older siblings who were only in 5050 and their siblings the younger siblings are in 9010 they're saying that their younger siblings know a lot more Spanish than than they do. >> Yes. Because it's all all in Spanish. Um yes. So we're we're really excited we are able to collect the data. Um we have wonderful teachers in our program who are really dedicated to this program. um and you know people in the community, parents and caregivers who really advocate for this program and and really important um for our community, right? It's it's
043a lot of times people will move here just for that program. Um and you know they move here it's not always guaranteed because it's a lottery system. Um and so we have 40 seats available. Um, the reason why we started this program and why a lot of dual language programs exist was to raise the scores of our of our Latino students. And so the the reason that we have this program is because students will come into the school, they will learn English, but at the same time they would be able to keep their language and their culture at the same time. Um, and so, you know, in the past we haven't had that many Latino students in the program. We really try to keep it 50/50, but those are the um the families that we
044really try to target to be able to close those gaps, the ones that we talked about previously with about our ELLL students. >> And and that was going to be my next question because I was like, is Kamantis only ELLL students for the community? No. So, we have some individuals who are like English natives who whose primary language is English in the program and then we have individuals who their primary language was Spanish. >> Yes. and and we have a two-way program. So what that means is that when you have 50% English learners and 50% Spanish learners, they're learning from each other. And so the the English speakers are learning from the Spanish and the Spanish are learning from the English. And it's really beautiful to see because even if you go into a classroom,
045um I'm thinking of second grade right off the top of my head is they were doing a turn and talk and one of them was doing it in Spanish but the other one was answering in English because they're learning from each other. One of them was a native Spanish speaker who had just moved here from another country but was able to communicate and the other child was able to communicate with them. And so that's really the goal of our program. They're really learning from each other. Um you know they're learning about bi literacy and and they're learning about aca academic and content and language at the same time and then they're learning culture and it's it's a beautiful thing to see. So tell me what I know what I've heard, but I want to know
046what what have you heard in terms of feedback from families and staff and the community about coming on. >> Oh, they love it. We had an event on Thursday, this past Thursday. So, um you know, we only expected about 75 people. We ended up with 200. >> Yes, [laughter] >> we ended up with 200. So, we had a lot of um families come in and and the purpose of that program on Thursday was really a showcase to show the community and the parents. We had a lot of parents of um upcoming kindergarteners who are interested in the program. They're not even in the program yet and they wanted to come and see really what the the teachers were doing. And so we did open house style where um we gave you know community members and
047parents and caregivers time to go into the classrooms and and the children presented something either poetry or projects that they were working on. Um and then we had a cultural component as well. So we had a group come in and um teach about the history of bomba which is a dance from Puerto Rico that comes from >> I know bomba. [laughter] >> Yeah. And so from our um our African heritage and they were able to teach >> um everyone how to dance and the history of it. And so not only the classwork that you know what we do in our classroom but as well as the cultural piece which is really really important to us. >> So how are we thinking of extending? So there's two thing two questions I have right we know we're
048creating this sixth grade academy in the middle school um and this is for Ammer. So there's students who are coming in that are in kaminatases. So how are we thinking of addressing that? And how are we thinking about the future of the students who have taken all this time in Spanish and are now going into the region? Is there is there some connection or bridge that we could make? >> Yes, we have to be very creative moving from Emmers to the region. um you know so with kaminantes every year we've kind of added a little piece to the program like I said this is the first year where we've had sixth grade in kaminantes and so now we had to say all right now that we had the sixth grade what are what are we
049going to do with them in seventh grade right because originally if we said nothing if they just graduated from kaminantes or sixth grade and moved on to seventh grade they would uh be thrown into a pool of students that now need to take Spanish one or We do offer other languages as well, but as a language teacher myself, a a teacher for 20 years, I knew that that was not the best practice and and the best choice for our kamantes students. Um, and so I said, "All right, what can we do that that the region could accept, right, where it's not really kaminantes because kaminante ends in sixth grade, but what opportunities can we provide for these students?" And so >> we want to be able to provide them with a course where it's a
050uh we call it Spanish language and culture. It's called um an advanced Spanish class or some districts call it heritage or native speaker class, right? Where not only our kaminantes students can go into that class, can take that course, but as well as the other students because we do have Spanish speakers in the region, right? And so we have to be able to provide them with the opportunity to take that course as well. So although we won't be able to provide a content course in Spanish because right now in sixth grade they take Spanish and then they take a content course which is social studies. So at the region we will not provide that content course but at least they'll continue their Spanish growth um through that advanced Spanish class or heritage or native whatever
051it is that you want to call it. So for me, I I kind of like the conversation because what what's happening is there's a commitment to like continuous improvement and extension, but also creating the opportunity for them to engage and practice what they've learned in a specific course that can expand various content areas. They're not just in one specific thing. Am I hearing you correct? >> Yes. >> Awesome. [clears throat] So I mean community, there's a lot that's happening um in the districts and you've heard it here. This is where you get the tea. with Dr. Z. And so, um, I am loving sitting down here and actually, um, acting like I'm hearing a lot of this for the first time. And so, I do want to actually now hear from you community and hear
052your voice. So, um, you know, questions about student support, questions about program access, family communication, whether it's a transition between schools, our Chestnut Street Academy, um, or even our first our in our brand our first kindergarten class that's now the first sixth grade class that will be graduating from or moving up from Ammeris Elementary into the region. So, you know, we're going to take a few questions from our chat and just um have an opportunity to engage with you during this time. Let's hear the community voice. So, um Seth, are there any questions in the chat? All right. So, we are we don't have questions yet. Are there any comments that we may need to address? All right. So, we can keep it going. Um, I guess my question for you, um, and you know,
053if we were to think about broader district planning and expand and innovate, what would be your thoughts about the future, especially for the Camelantis program? Like, how can we shift change, make it stronger? Well, it's it's a strong program and so build upon what we have, you know, future focused. I think um continue to get the message out to the community um so that everyone could get the opportunity. So I feel like there are pockets of people that hear about the program um and not necessarily who it was intended for, right? And so my goal is to really get that message out so that we can I mean and ideally we would love to have like our own, you know, if I go to another district and I see its own building, right? In an
054ideal world, I Cecilia you're speaking to me because at one point I was like this needs to be its own school like create like its own dual language school in Amoris that would be awesome. >> Yes. And so I ideally they would be to expand where we where we needed a building, but I think continued as time goes by, as the program goes by, as we collect more data on the benefits of this program and and follow the kids through, um I think that advocacy and and continued um conversations with the community on the importance, right? And so we might not have a a large community of of Spanish speakers, right, of who the program was intended for, but there's so many benefits for everyone to learn a second language, right? How necessary it is
055to know Spanish in our country, as well as appreciation of other cultures, learning about culture and history, and um just all the benefits, not only um language. Right. >> You're correct. So, I'm going to ask you a question and then we're probably going to close out because we only have about a few more minutes left to the show. So, if families remember one thing from tonight, what would you want it to be? I would say that our community um learn about our program to know what it it um the let's see um let me think about this for one second. [laughter] And so I >> put you on the spot. [laughter] >> I would say that um although Ammerst doesn't seem like it has I know that Ammerst is diverse due to the university. >>
056Right. >> But I wish that the community knew how many multilingual learners we have. Right. Right. >> And that education really isn't a one-sizefits all. and that when we're looking and we're working with ML ML, you know, multilingual learners that we need to be able to meet them where they're at. We need to be able to provide them support. It's not going to always look the same way. Um, we might have to schedule them differently. We might have to um provide services in a different way. we might have to create time and space for teachers to meet at a time where it's not normal because we still need to be able to provide support for these students. And so I think if anything that those students are here that they need support um and that
057the number is larger than people think right it it keeps growing every year and so how can we support those students in our community that's what I would share with everybody. Thank you so much, Celia. Thank you for joining me this evening on my first inaugural te with Dr. Z episode. Um, thank you to the families and community who, you know, took the time to engage today. We're building a system um for students and we're not building a system of schools. We're building a school system that serves all students well. I ask that you tune in um not just to our ARPS tube, but to our arps.org website. um we share a lot of information there. We also share information through parent square and so we're going to continue to engage you um thisformational session
058will continue to run weekly to try and just engage you in different topics, programming and options throughout the district. And so I would like to say thank you for joining me. >> Thank you for having me. >> Yes. [laughter] And so um community I am Dr. This is Herman, superintendent of the Amoris Pelum and Amoris Pelum Regional Public Schools, saying have a great evening and thank you for joining us with tea with Dr. Z. Thank you. >> Thank you. Have a nice night.