AGAWAM – During the March 26 School Committee meeting, an English learner education update was provided by Ashley Martins, an ELL (English Language Learners) director and ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher at James Clark Elementary School.

Martins currently teaches students from kindergarten through fourth grade. Martins explained that there are currently 286 students involved in the ESL program that represent 14 different languages. The population is an increase from 2018, when there were only 202 students in the district.

Agawam Public Schools Superintendent Steven Lemanski introduced Martins, sharing, “We’ve had an influx of students that are now ELL students and we continue to see more and more, so we thought it would be interesting and educational for Ashley to come and speak with us and let us know what is happening in the world of English language learners.”

Martins introduced her presentation with the English Language Education mission statement. A portion of the mission statement read, “Agawam Public Schools promotes the preservation of native language and culture while developing social and academic communication with EL families and ensure that all learners have equitable access to the curricula.”

Martins said, “Not only are we focused on what is happening in the classroom, but also with families and socially as well.”

Martins explained to the School Committee that Agawam introduced an English Learner Parent Advisory Council, which had its first meeting on Jan. 14. The goal of the Parent Advisory Council is to help get parents of ESL students involved and to provide a group in which to voice their concerns. The next meeting is planned for April 29.

“We had a very successful turnout. We had about fifteen parents and we had our meeting during the day so it was a great turnout considering lots of parents are working,” Martins said.

Martins explained that the concerns expressed at the first meeting included information not being sent home in native language and parent’s hopes for more opportunities for them to learn English alongside their children.

Martins said that, based off of that feedback, the ELL Department is currently working on a number of initiatives to address concerns and improve the program.

For example, Martins is currently working to compile a list of district interpreters under a confidentiality agreement that will confidentially and impartially translate information for parents. Martins is also working to have school cancellations and delays translated to the native languages of ESL students and their caregivers.

Martins has also began working with translators to make sure that translation on the district website is accurate. A list of community resources is also being developed to be shared with parents that will tell them what is happening in the community, including free ESL classes in Western Massachusetts.

In the classroom, Martins explained that she is working on providing professional development for teachers so that strategies can be implemented in the classroom to help English language learners.

Martins and Agawam Public Schools Career Center Coordinator Lisa Sheehan are also working together on internship opportunities. Martins explained, “We are also working on creating a high school internship and tapping into the bilingual population at the high school. There’s a lot of students that speak multiple languages that are not in the ESL program, so we are hoping to utilize those resources as well.”

Martins continued, “We are hoping that we have a group of interested bilingual speakers who would be willing to come and work with the younger ELL population in the elementary schools and middle schools for internship credit.”

Additionally, Martins said she is working on creating a Peer-to-Peer tutoring program with bilingual high school students. “We are also looking at creating a Peer-to-Peer tutoring program with the high school bilingual students and the EL students at the younger level where they can help them with homework or extra help. I’m also hoping to invite the parents who don’t speak English as well because they’re hoping to learn how to help their children more in the classroom and learn the academic language as well,” Martins said.

In an effort to further involve ESL caregivers in the education of students, Martins shared that an EL Parent Handbook is currently in the works that would include a list of contacts and programming protocol.

Martins explained that there has also been collaboration with the Special Education department. “We’ve had stronger collaboration with the Special Education department as well in determining whether a child’s struggles are due to the level of language proficiency or whether there’s a student that has a communication and/or learning disability,” Martins said.

To watch the full meeting, visit vimeo.com/agawam.