Schools

District 69 Plans Teacher, English Skills Program Cuts

Most of the more than 20 layoffs will occur in the language classes for foreign students.

While they haven't laid anyone off yet, District 69 plans to release about 30 teachers in the coming months as it adapts to a shrinking budget.

District 69, whose umbrella extends over as well as and s, plans on bringing back about eight of the released teachers. So the number of faculty cuts is expected to be about 22, said Superintendent Quintin Shepherd.

Most of the cuts will come in the English Language Learning ( ELL) program, which teaches foreign students how to enhance their English speaking skills. Shepherd noted that the program originally started 10 years ago, when Skokie's demographics were vastly different.

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"That program has become very cumbersome," Shepherd said. " we asked ourselves, 'Is this the best way to teach?' "

According to the district, ELL instruction is provided to more than 170 students at its schools. Under the budget proposal, 12 teachers in those studies are scheduled to be laid off.

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Art, music, gifted and physical education programs are among the other areas targeted for staffing cuts.

Shepherd said the district plans to restructure the ELL classes by placing students with English difficulties into one classroom. In the past, students would be pulled out of regular classrooms individually for personalized teaching . Now, classrooms will be mainly made up  of Spanish, Urdu, Assyrian and Arabic students who have below average English speaking skills. The teacher will be ELL certified.

"We started recognizing that we had some serious financial issues in November," Shepherd said.

He did note, however, that a few students--maybe one or two--would be pulled from class for more personalized training.

The new sheltered ELL program will now teach the regular curriculum as well as English Speaking skills.

Most of the students already speak good English, but need an added push to polish their speaking skills, Shepherd said. Students are placed into ELL after taking a test, and that most of the current students scored relatively high, but still needed to be placed in an ELL class, he said.

No timetable was given on when the teacher cuts are expected to happen. According to Shepherd, budget talks have been ongoing since February, noting that his financial advisers--as well as himself--are in their first administrative years at District 69.

The school system has cited the uncertainty over state funding as one factor in taking measures to reduce spending from this year's level of about $24 million.

For more information, check District 69's website by clicking here.


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