Eugene 4J board to vote Feb 15 on proposal to increase Spanish-speaking and lunch-program student enrollment
About 60 parents and teachers attended a special meeting on Monday, February 13, 2012, at Buena Vista Spanish Immersion School. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss a proposal brought to Buena Vista from Eugene School District 4J Superintendent Sheldon Berman and its school board.
Some of the parents in attendance continued the discussion in the library immediately following the meeting in the school's cafeteria | February 13, 2012 | Clarification: The primary purpose of the library gathering was to host a monthly Buena Vista Parent Organization meeting, which immediately followed the enrollment-cap meeting held in the cafeteria.
The proposal aims to increase the number of native Spanish speakers and students qualifying for free and low-cost lunchat the school and to provide students with special needs more access to the Buena Vista program.
The proposal also involves two controversial changes: providing transportation to families in the Sheldon and Glenwood regions (currently, all Buena Vista students must get to school on their own), and giving priority both to English Language Learners (ELL) and free and low-cost lunch students in the Buena Vista “School Choice” lottery.
Buena Vista Principal Juan Cuadros explained that the 4J superintendent and the school board hope to increase the percentage of students who receive free and low-cost lunch from Buena Vista’s current rate of 20 percent to 25 percent by next fall, with the ultimate goal of reaching 30 percent within the next five years.
Cuadros further explained that, compared to other 4J schools, Buena Vista has currently one of the least diverse student populations, particularly in terms of free and low-cost lunch status; the district range is 17-79 percent and the district average is 42 percent. Another Eugene immersion school – Charlemagne – has the district’s lowest percentage of students qualifying for free and low-cost lunches at 17 percent.
The first question, raised by Kim Manseth Darden, a parent of a first-grader and an incoming kindergartener, was whether or not the proposed changes to the lottery system would shut out spaces for kids who do not qualify for free or reduced lunch. “If enough kids who are free and reduced lunch apply,” she said, “there will be no room for non-free and -reduced lunch kids.”
Cuadros admitted that the details for how the priority system would work have not yet been totally hammered out, and he acknowledged that this is a “big concern for a lot of people.”
Darden further pressed that the language of the proposal (to go before the school board for a vote today) be changed to reflect the actual intended method of selecting students of different economic backgrounds via the current school lottery.
As an alternative school, Buena Vista has an enrollment cap and all families participate in a lottery to be admitted.
Cuadros emphasized that some of the details about the proposal, particularly those about the lottery system, can be worked through only after the lottery system is closed and he knows how many – and what “types” – of families applied to the school.
A number of parents commented that the “to be determined” nature of some of these changes made them anxious. Lindsey Weller Poulsen, who has a first-grader and a third-grader at Buena Vista, felt that last year’s budget cuts caused some parents to leave the school and that these proposed changes induced further anxiety about how the school will change and how much control parents will have over [the changes].
A key concern from the crowd was the term “dual immersion,” recently used in a Register Guard story that claimed Buena Vista would be changing from a “full immersion” school to a “dual immersion” one.
Cuadros corrected that misperception, stating that Buena Vista already is a dual immersion program, albeit one with a different model than that of the River Road school – El Camino del Rio.
According to Cuadros, there are two primary models of immersion programs. The majority use a 50/50 model, where half of the instruction is in English. Buena Vista’s model is a bit unusual, with kindergarteners through third-graders receiving 90 percent of their instruction in Spanish, and fourth- and fifth-graders at the school receiving 50 percent of their instruction in English. He emphasized that although Superintendent Berman had assumed the program should be a 50/50 model, he had told Berman he didn’t want the Buena Vista instructional model to change.
Abby Lane, 4J English language coordinator, further emphasized that “none of us want to go with 50/50.”
Superintendent Berman, according to Cuadros, has agreed to leave the curriculum at Buena Vista alone but said that this may have to change if assessments indicate a need.
When asked if he would make a commitment that, as long as he is principal, the program would remain as is, Cuadros answered: “Yes.”
Buena Vista parent Scott Johnson asked why the proposal included a plan to bus students to Buena Vista from Sheldon and Glenwood, particularly because it is an added cost during an economically difficult time. Cuadros reported that data show there are families in those areas who are interested in the program and who would increase Buena Vista’s economic diversity and number of ELL students. He also said that the district does not want to dilute local schools, particularly River Road and Howard; hence students from those neighborhoods are not eligible for bus transportation.
Johnson also Cuadros said that the issues the school board will be voting on are about transportation and the cap on enrollment, not on the Buena Vista curriculum itself.
Despite Cuadros’ attempts to allay parents’ fears, another parent of a first- grader, Christa Green Heinze, voiced concern about what she termed “the proposed preferential lottery system.”
Cuadros said that the lottery system and transportation would simply open up the program to more residents, many of whom have expressed interest in it but who have been unable to take advantage of it due to Buena Vista’s small size and lack of school buses. Buena Vista currently caps enrollment at 299 and had a waiting list of 105 in September. Today 35 students remain on the waiting list.
Many parents present remained skeptical. “If you change the demographics of the school,” said one, “you may change the program.”
Cuadros reminded the crowd that last spring there were many people proposing to close the district’s immersion schools and that, in order to preserve Buena Vista, he has to expand the school. But the district will only let him bring in more students if he makes the program accessible to English Language Learners and increases the number of free and low-cost lunch children at the school.
Parents continued to ask how this will benefit “our school.” Cuadros replied that adding more kids brings in more full-time equivalent hires (more teachers) and potentially could reduce class size.
A parent at the back of the room asked: “But what else about dual immersion benefits our kids?” The parent continued saying that “if primarily Spanish-speaking kids come in and are not taught in English until fourth grade, they will be disadvantaged relative to the children whose first language is English.”
Lane replied that the teachers at Buena Vista are well trained and will be able to change curriculum depending on what different kids need. “We believe Spanish-speaking children need a good foundation in their native language first,” she said, adding that she could provide research data. “You need to trust that we know what we’re doing.”
Another parent then asked how the new district-wide rules surrounding open enrollment will impact the changes to the lottery system. Cuadros replied that students in-district have priority over those outside the district and that even with priority, those trying to take advantage of Buena Vista through open enrollment are looked at after the admission of ELL and F/RL children, and everyone else. Siblings of current students still have priority.
Christa Green Heinze, who has a first-grader and a fourth-grader at the school, said that the proposed changes to the lottery system were “discrimination against the middle- and upper-classes” and added that “just because they’re lower-class we [shouldn’t] have to pick them.”
Cuadros asked everyone: “For clarity and transparency, what are your fears?” Darden responded that she chose the school because of the 90/10 instruction model and said that “it feels like we’re trying to flip it – we’ll be the minority as non-native Spanish speakers or people who do not qualify for free and low-cost lunch.”
Another parent said that she’s nervous because “I don’t trust [the school board and superintendent].”
“If what makes [Buena Vista] popular gets destroyed, it will go away” said another parent.
A parent at the back of the room then said too many changes will happen too fast, particularly with the plan to double the size of the school.
Cuadros quickly countered with “We’re not doubling!”
Lane also pointed out that the native Spanish-speaking community in Eugene “just isn’t that large” and that the fears of the school being “flipped” to one dominated by English Language Learners are simply unfounded. “Even at River Road,” she said, “where we aim to have 50 percent of the population’s native Spanish speakers, we don’t have it.”
Amy Anderson, a parent of a Buena Vista first-grader and of two older children who have gone through the program, countered Heintze’s claim of bias against middle- and upper-income parents.
“Where Buena Vista is located,” she said, “already brings in a bias against lower-income families or those who do not have an easy way to get here.”
Anderson felt that the proposal not only would help keep Buena Vista off the potential chopping block, but will make Buena Vista look, demographically, more like other schools throughout the district. “It’s about equity,” she said.
When asked exactly how Buena Vista would change for next year, Cuadros said the initial changes would be modest. The plan is to increase the cap by 25-30 students in the fall (adding roughly the equivalent of one class). This would probably result in an additional kindergarten class next fall (currently there are two).
Cuadros stated that the hope would be that enough students (across all grades) would qualify for free or low-cost lunch to make the school’s percentage rise from 20 to 25. Right now, 20 percent of Buena Vista’s 299 students (59 students) qualify for free and low-cost lunch. If enrollment increased to 325 students, for instance, the school would aim to have a total of 81 students qualifying for free or low-cost lunch. Thus, the difference in the number of current versus anticipated free and low-cost lunch children is 22 – potentially nearly all of the incoming new class.
Cuadros gave three reasons why the proposal benefits the school: it diversifies the population; it opens up the program to people who have been unable to take advantage of it; and it strengthens the school by giving it more native Spanish speakers.
“When we were combined with Meadowlark [which closed this past year] we were one of the largest elementary schools in the district. Now we are one of the smallest,” Cuadros said.
He also thus identified a fourth reason why he hopes the proposal goes through: “We have to do this for practical reasons too…to protect our school because we are currently small.”
Some of the parents in attendance continued the discussion in the library immediately following the meeting in the school's cafeteria | February 13, 2012 | Clarification: The primary purpose of the library gathering was to host a monthly Buena Vista Parent Organization meeting, which immediately followed the enrollment-cap meeting held in the cafeteria.
Leah, a parent of a first-grader, prefers only to be identified by her first name. She said she thinks the proposal has some important advantages: “We need to think what this can do for our school.” She further stated that she found it “offensive” how some were talking about the poor and native Spanish speakers.
One man, who stated that “for political reasons” he did not want to be identified, but who has a first-grader at the school and two other children in the district, had this to say: “The immersion schools have been set up as insulated boutique schools for the more privileged of Eugene. They have been a way for those fortunate parents to avoid the larger demographic problems facing the rest of the district.”
Cuadros closed the meeting promising that he will commit to having more meetings “like this one” once the lottery is closed, he knows the numbers of applicants, and has more information about them. He also promised to let Superintendent Berman know about the parents’ concerns, and about the need to have the proposal itself reflect an accurate description of the Buena Vista program and a clearer model for how students would be selected to go to the school.
Elaine Replogle is an adjunct instructor of sociology at the University of Oregon and is currently co-editing a book on immigration controversies, due out later this year from Sage Publications. Her son is currently enrolled at Buena Vista.
Photo Credits: Randy L Rasmussen, The Oregonian (school bus); Elaine Replogle (all others)
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow! I guess the true colors are shining through. BV doesn’t want to be more diverse, they just want to stay open. 4J has a long history of favoring alternative schools through policy, allowing a greater parent fundraising base to be concentrated in a few school and thereby damaging neighborhood schools. Fo BV, it’s too little, too late. You cannot be a bastion of elitism and a operate as a publicly-funded, private school then suddenly decide that diversity is good… Cannot believe that the district is going to burn $$$ busing kids around to help the country-clubbers. Bad policy, 4J. Bad.
Please do not judge BV as a whole by some of the close minded and more vocal parents at the school. As a parent of one child or another at BV for more than 10 years now, I promise you there has been slow but steady progress at making BV more welcoming to all. I agree that too many parents have treated BV as a boutique private school for far too long. I believe that all fundraising by all the area schools needs to go into a communal pot and then get divided among the schools.
This vote was more about gaining FRL dollars for the school to ensure it survives. The diversity and course of study were all there to divert attention to the fact that the administrators needed a better way to fund it. The diversity is great – I’m all for it. I’m not so keen on the way it was spun to the parents and the total lack of “clarity” even though that word was used several times at Monday night’s meeting. I say open the lottery to all – regardless of any personal attributes or features and then work to figure out the transportation problem. If people think that BV is a “country club” school they should really re-evaluate their thought process. There is something about BV that sets it apart from other schools – parents WANT their children to attend so much so that they have to enter into a lottery. Now that lottery is clearly being manipulated simply because not enough Spanish speakers and FRL families threw their names in the hat for the lottery in the first place? If transportation is the key issue here, lets remedy that. Manipulating the lottery seems like an unfair method to achieve fairness. This is a perfect example of problem solving to the symptoms without looking at the root cause. It also seems to be another example of – let’s hurry and rush this through because we have to NOW! (Remember TARP, the bail-outs, patriot act renewals) There’s always a sense of urgency when an arm of the government wants something to the point that nothing else but the urgent point matters. Is it wrong for the school board to admit they need the FRL students for the school to financially survive? Does being vocal indicate close mindedness? How does phony fairness become fair? I guess I don’t understand…
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