Parent Files Affirmative Action Grievance Concerning ESL Program

With concerns over an initial discriminatory act, and the proposal as a whole, Bridgewater resident Charlene Deegan-Calello filed an affirmative action grievance Friday against the township over the proposed ESL magnet school program.

Deegan-Calello said she was first concerned by the proposal when she saw the original presentation released in mid-May, which featured a table of target groups and recommendations to aid the students.

But the targeted group of English Language Learners [ELL] also featured economically disadvantaged students in the same category, with the recommendation being to create an ESL magnet program, Deegan-Calello said.

“The reason the grievance was filed was, in part, because the district did identify the population subject to this move as both ELL and economically disadvantaged in their original board of education presentation and, subsequently, on the district website,” she said. “Economically disadvantaged students not only share subgroup status with ELL students, but they have, as well, a protected class status.”

“I feel as though the district did violate the protected class confidentiality and privacy rights of this class of students,” she added. “The district, having openly identified and labeled this group as a target group in their literature and on the website, has potentially assured this group as a target group of the types of discrimination their protected class status was put in place to protect.”

Deegan-Calello said this subgroup status was subsequently eliminated from the presentation after a complaint was made.

The recommendation is to create a magnet program to service the estimated 112 students needing the services in kindergarten through fourth grades, and 12 students in fifth and sixth grades.

In the one-site plan presented by the district, the primary school students in the ESL program would be moved to , while the intermediate students would be brought to

The change would allow for the creation of cluster classrooms and sheltered instruction observation protocol [SIOP], which are not currently offered.

SIOP classes are those with 22 students who are all ELL students together with a grade-level teacher and an ESL teacher all day. Cluster classrooms are the ones currently used throughout the district with ELL students spread out in the different grade levels—those classrooms have both a grade-level teacher and an ESL teacher.

With the one-site option, students would receive 40 to 60 minutes of ESL instruction every day in cluster classrooms, and 200 minutes per day in the SIOP classes.

Deegan-Calello said her initial concern about the program was this designation of both ELL students and economically disadvantaged.

“To [bring them to a school] after essentially calling them poor, and then putting them in a school where they will be 30 percent of the population,” she said, “you are blowing that cover, and we can’t put them in that position.”

Deegan-Calello said she is bringing this issue to both the governor’s office and the county offices, which informed her she could file an affirmative action grievance.

“I was told I was within reason to file a grievance,” she said. “Part of my concern is that they’ve identified these children and still want to move forward with the program.”

Following this change to the presentation, Deegan-Calello said, she was also concerned by the data submitted by the district concerning the scores of students at all the schools and the levels of diversity if the students were to be moved. As a research scientist herself, Deegan-Calello said, she found some inconsistencies in the data.

“I think this is just the district dealing with issues they are having at specific schools, not about them working with the kids who need it,” she said.

For example, Deegan-Calello said, the AI program is located in , and she asked if it could be moved to another school to make room for the ELL students there.

But, Deegan-Calello said, she believes it has to do with the statistics and numbers for No Child Left Behind, particularly because the test scores of the ELL students are required to be reported through their home schools not Bradley Gardens if they are moved there.

“AI artificially heightens the numbers, so NCLB gets a kick [for Adamsville],” she said. “They should not be able to keep one statistic and filter others out so we won’t see how bad one school is. As the school has an advanced proficient profile, their NJASK scores might serve to elevate the school’s AYP.”

“The picture people will see of Bradley Gardens will not be what it’s actually going to be,” she added. “And the world will never know because we are allowed to filter out the numbers.”

Deegan-Calello said she is also concerned by the numbers provided by the district concerning diversity in the schools, particularly in Bradley Gardens. With her own children who have already gone through Bradley Gardens, she said she and her husband initially moved there because of the diversity.

“We’re among one of the most diverse schools,” she said. “The idea that this program will improve the diversity is not authentic because it is already one of the most diverse. And then you’re taking away the diversity from other schools. It’s disingenuous to suggest that it would improve diversity.”

A vote and further discussion is expected at Tuesday’s board of education meeting at 8 p.m. at the .