An elementary school principal has been reassigned to his home after an audit by the Arizona Department of Education revealed that ELL (English Language Learner) students were moved to mainstream classrooms instead of classes to help them increase their English skills.

Stevenson Elementary School Principal Rafael Ortiz is currently administratively reassigned to his home after the audit from the Office of Language Acquisition Service revealed that the school is not adhering to ELL standards for student education.

According to the report, the school had been under investigation for months.

The investigation centered on the withdrawal of more than 100 students from Stevenson’s ELL programs that had previously been identified as English Language Learners.

The audit was sparked because of the withdrawal of so many students from the program when there had not been any withdrawals from the school’s program the previous two years.

According to a summary report from Leann Gilbreath from the Department of Education, the audit discovered many issues concerning the withdrawal of students from the Stevenson program.

• Most of the withdrawal forms had the same handwriting on the form, as if specific school personnel had written names of the students on the form and then had parents sign them.

• Most of the forms were completed on July 23 and August 14, 2008.

√ Withdrawal forms were completed on students that had already tested out as “proficient” and would no longer be in the ELL program. Withdrawal forms would not have been necessary.

• It was also noted that a large number of students had severe academic difficulties prior to being withdrawn from ELL. Many were receiving grades of “D” or “F”.

• Students were being withdrawn without district personnel reviewing the matter and students who were labeled ELL were being systemically withdrawn from a program regardless of their abilities or deficiencies in academic progress.

Gilbreath also noted concerns about the success of the ELL program at the school. According to state law, the goal is to move a student out of the ELL program and back into mainstream classrooms within a year.

Parents do have the option of having their child removed from the program, but according to Office of School Improvement Director for the Douglas Unified School District, Carrie Toland, before any student is removed from the program by the parent, the district offers a counseling session, showing parents the students scores and improvement or lack thereof as well as explaining how the program works.

After that session, if the parent still wishes to remove the student, they may do so.

But the indication from the paperwork is that the parents that signed to remove their students did not fully understand the program and why their student was in it.

The district may be subject to fines, legal action and other loss of state revenue.

In a report from Gilbreath, she closes by quoting ARS 15-754, Legal Standing and Parent Enforcement: “As detailed in sections 15-752 and 15-753, all Arizona school children have the right to be provided at their local school with an English language public education. The parent or legal guardian of any Arizona school student shall have the legal standing to sue for enforcement of the provisions of this statue, and if successful, shall be awarded normal and customary damages, but not punitive or consequential damages. Any school board member or other elected official of administrator who willfully and repeatedly refuses to implement the terms of this statute may be held personally liable for fees and actually compensatory damages by the child’s parents or legal guardian, and cannot be subsequently indemnified for such assessed damages by any public or private third party. Any individual found so liable shall be immediately removed from office, and shall be barred from holding any position of authority anywhere within the Arizona public school system for an additional period of five years.”

District resolution

While the district had major problems in Stevenson School, all other schools performed well, “with some minor changes being made,” according to Toland during the February 25 school board work session.

The governing board was briefed on the situation, and told that all 100 students that were moved will be reassessed, and additional summer school classes will be provided this year.

Tutoring is also available during the current school year. The district is also looking at providing a four-hour ELL block for kindergarten.

The district and state agreed it would be too disruptive to move the students now, so any changes will occur in the fall.

Superintendent Pettit said no discussion concerning Ortiz’ continuing status at home is scheduled to be discussed during the March 3 school board meeting.

“We have done everything we can to rectify the situation and let the Department of Education know how serious we realize this is,” he said.

There is an ongoing investigation of the Stevenson School problem by three different agencies – Arizona Department of Education, Auditor General’s Office and the school district.

“Our ability to act quickly in this situation we hope will reduce our liability. The Department of Education is pleased that we have acted so quickly.”

Pettit said he is unsure why the ELL students were moved out of the program, and doesn’t understand why school administration through this was necessary.

ELL explained

The district provides services to their students that have difficulty with English through the English Language Learner program, which is mandated by the state.

According to Toland, when new students register for school, they fill out a home language survey. If on the survey, they indicate another language other than English is spoken in the home, the students will be given an English Language Learner Assessment. That testing will occur within the 30 academic days in the fall and 10 academic days in the spring.

There are five levels students can reach in the testing – Pre-Emergent, Emergent, Basic, Intermediate and Proficient. If they test out anywhere but Proficient, they will be placed in the ELL program.

At that point, the parents are notified and the program is explained.

All ELL students are in special ELL classes in their home area school. It is required that during a four-hour block students are provided one hour of reading, one hour of writing, one hour of grammar and one hour of oral language.

The curriculum goes along with the curriculum in the mainstream classroom, there is just more emphasis on English skills,” Toland said.

Each child is retested once a year to see if they have reached proficiency and can be placed in the mainstream classroom. Even if they proceed into that classroom, they will be retested each of the next to years to ensure their English skills have not eroded or diminished.

“There is a lot of correlation between the mainstream class instruction and the ELL instruction,” Toland said.

Approximately 850 students are classified as English Language Learners in the district.