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Tuesday, 29 November 2005 05:29 |
By DAVID FORBES
The Buncombe County public school system, which educates more than 50 percent of Asheville??s students, while doing well, is facing problems with educating students who do not speak English and with declining funds, Superintendent Cliff Dodson said on Nov. 15 in a presentation to Asheville City Council.
?®I??ve been saying for four years that soon our largest minority population will not be African-Americans in Buncombe County schools ?? it will be Hispanic students,?∆ Dodson said. ?®That happened this year. Last year, we had kids (speaking) 43 languages here ?? we now have over 50 language backgrounds. Our challenge is simply to get them to learn English as quickly as possible. If you ever expect to be successful over the long term in America, your only chance is to learn English fast. The difficulty is they learn to speak English during the day, but then they go home and their parents do not speak English.?∆
The number of limited English-proficiency students has increased from 1,154 in 2004 to 1,318 in 2005, according to information from the Buncombe school system.
?®You can see how the landscape is changing in Buncombe County,?∆ Dodson said.
?®That??s an area that I??m sad to report to you we??re not making as much progress as we simply need to make. North Carolina says that after the second year, you are supposed to test a non-native student the same as you would test your child or my child.?∆
In addition, Dodson asserted, Buncombe ranks low in the total funds it receives, coming in 76th among all school systems in the state and 14th in Western North Carolina. By contrast, Asheville ranks third in the state and first in WNC.
?®We??ve been dropping for several years,?∆ Dodson said. ?®We started out behind and we??re getting further behind. Certainly that will be part of our conversation with the county.?∆
Councilwoman Holly Jones asked Dodson, ?®What??s wrong with the money formula here??∆
In reply, Dodson gave the example of the recently passed state lottery, noting that money will be allocated based on the tax rate of a county. ?®Buncombe has a pretty low tax rate. That will actually get us less money,?∆ he noted.
The challenges created by the public schools?? mandate to educate anyone are not just limited to dealing with students becoming proficient in English, but also includes students with mental health problems ?? a problem that is only becoming worse due to federal budget cuts, Dodson said.
?®We have a lot of kids who used to receive mental health services that are no longer receiving any services, or are receiving less services than they were,?∆ Dodson said. ?®But they??re still coming to school and they still have the same conditions they always had.?∆
By trying to deal more effectively with the problems posed by those students, Dodson said, the system has formed a two-teacher response team of counselors who will be in any classroom within two hours of the time a child has a serious mental problem.
On the positive side, the system??s SAT scores are higher than average, Dodson said.
?®The Buncombe County students this last year distinguished themselves on their SAT scores,?∆ Dodson said. ?®Their scores are 56 points above the state average and 36 points higher than the average in the United States.
?®Why is this significant??∆ he asked. ?®It??s significant because our kids are so much more likely to move to
different parts of the country. It??s important that our kids be able to compete with other students, not just for enrollment in college, but also for scholarships, for jobs and for productions. For that reason, we think it??s important to measure ourselves.?∆
Furthermore, Dodson said, there was only a difference of six percentage points in test scores between the highest and lowest performing high schools.
?®We think that??s important, because every child should have the opportunity to perform, regardless of where they go to school,?∆ he explained.
Additionally, Dodson said, 89.2 percent of students scored at or above their grade level in reading and 91.4
percent at or above their grade level in math.
Council should be concerned with the state of Buncombe County schools, because so many students in
Asheville attend them, Dodson said.
?®You actually have more Buncombe County students within the Asheville city limits than you do have Asheville city (school system) students in Asheville,?∆ Dodson said. ?®This year, we have an enrollment of 25,555 ?? 297
more than last year.?∆
School staff, he said, are also trying to communicate more effectively with the parents of their students.
?®There are concerned parents who are not sure at what point their children will learn long division, multiplication, what have you. To assist parents, we put together a brochure, by grade level, to say if you have a seventh grade child, for example, here is what your child will be expected to learn this year. It helps the
parents who want to be really active and assist their children.?∆
He noted, however, that while Buncombe school staff welcome the input of parents and the community, they have to make sure that students are still getting enough time to study their core subjects.
?®Sometimes, it seems like everybody who has an issue wants to go to the schools to fix it,?∆ Dodson said. ?®Part of my job is to prevent that from happening.?∆
Still, Dodson said he is willing to make exceptions.
?®If you can show me that there is value added, enough to be more important than what that teacher was going to teach, then I will probably say yes,?∆ Dodson said.
Despite the challenges facing the public schools, Dodson said, the determination of the teachers and administrators to teach any and all students remains constant.
?®Our policy is: They walk through the front door, we teach them,?∆ Dodson said. ?®That??s really got nothing to do
with federal, state or local dollars. In a public school, we don??t pick and choose who our clients are. A child walks in here from Mexico City, our teachers have the attitude of, ?¥He can??t speak English? Well, let??s go to work.???∆
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