East Aurora School District 131 is holding off on opening its planned international newcomer center, an initiative meant to help students who are new to the United States acclimate to their new schools.
The purpose of the center was to give students who qualify a crash course in English skills and knowledge of how the school district operates before they join their grade-level classmates at their assigned district school, according to past reporting.
The criteria for joining the program included being born outside of the U.S., speaking a language other than English or Spanish at home, having spent less than 90 days enrolled in any U.S. school and a WIDA screener score (an English proficiency test by the University of Wisconsin-Madison) of below 3.0, according to past reporting. It was set to be open to students in grades 1-5.
The idea for a newcomer center was first floated last year, and then presented to East Aurora’s school board in the spring, according to past reporting. It was slated to open this fall, operating out of two classrooms at Bardwell Elementary, which sits across from the district’s main administrative building.
But now, its opening is on hold, Rita Guzman, the district’s executive director of language acquisition and early learning, told the East Aurora school board’s Curriculum Committee in August.
The recommendation to open the newcomer center was based on student enrollment, Guzman explained.
In May, district enrollment numbers indicated that there were 35 students in kindergarten through fifth grade who would have been eligible for the program at the time. But, according to Guzman, more recent district numbers show just one newcomer student who speaks a language other than English or Spanish who would currently qualify for the program.
“As you guys know, around the world things have changed,” Guzman said at the August meeting. “So, that is currently where we stand right now.”
So, due to the drop in eligible students in the district, they’re pausing the opening of the center, she explained.
The students who were newcomers to the district last year are still there, a district spokesperson explained, but students are only eligible for the program if they are in their first year in the district. The district had projected a similar number of newcomers for this school year, but the number of eligible students ended up being much lower.
Per the district spokesperson, the number of eligible students who would have qualified for the program has generally ranged between 20 and 30 over the past three years.
Nationwide, 10.6% of public school students were English Learners in 2021, according to the most recent available data from the National Center for Education Statistics. That percentage was slightly higher in Illinois, at 12.8%.
Spanish was by far the most common reported language for those students, accounting for about three-fourths of the total number of English Learners nationally, per the NCES data. The next most common language was Arabic.
In the spring, East Aurora’s school board approved staffing requests for the planned center, including two teachers, two teacher assistant positions and a facilitator role. They have all been reassigned to new district assignments, Guzman told the Curriculum Committee.
In the meantime, the district will continue to assess students’ academic and language needs and provide support in the way of teachers and staff as well as through the Parent Liaisons and Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee, according to the district spokesperson.
“Not to say that newcomers will … not be supported,” Guzman said at the meeting. “They will be supported.”
But, though the newcomer center is off the table for now, Guzman said officials will continue to monitor the district’s enrollment each quarter to see if the number of students who would qualify ticks back up.