Nashua To Resolve Failures In English Language Learner Education

NASHUA, NH — Federal officials have reached a settlement with the state's second-largest school district after finding what it deemed to be "widespread failures" to provide English language learners with proper instruction and support so they could fully participate in the learning process in the city's schools.

The case came to be in July 2019 after complaints were filed against the Nashua School District and the U.S. Justice Department opened an investigation.

During a 21-month investigation, the department found SAU 42 failed to provide "sufficient EL (English learner) services to hundreds of EL students" and denied those students with "the ability to participate meaningfully in their core subjects by failing to train their teachers on how to instruct EL students." There was also no training for principals to evaluate staffers or interactivity and communication with parents with "limited English proficient" about school activities and programs.

The 18-page settlement, linked here, which was released on Tuesday, outlined steps the district agreed to take to remedy the issues. These include proper identification of English language learners and enrolling them in appropriate classes; ensuring all students receive English as a second language instruction — including students with disabilities; making sure there are enough teachers in the system certified to teach English as a second language; ensuring teachers are trained in academic core subjects like math, science, and social studies; making sure principals are trained in teacher evaluation; improving communication with parents; and that the district would monitor the students.

"We are committed to protecting the civil rights of all students, including English language learners," acting-U.S. Attorney John Farley for the District of New Hampshire said. "We make our communities better when our local schools serve the needs of all students and parents. This agreement will help ensure that Nashua schools are places where all students have a chance to learn and grow and all parents have an opportunity to follow their children's progress."

The district, officials said, cooperated "at every stage of the investigation" and was committed to improving practices.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela Karlan of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said the district must "step up" and give English language learners the support and services they are entitled to under federal law.

"This agreement is a reminder that teachers cannot deliver those supports and services without training and resources from their district," she said. "The Justice Department will vigorously enforce the law to open the doors of opportunity for all students in our nation’s schools. We commend the Nashua School District for opening those doors to its English Learners by entering into this agreement."

Teachers certified in English as a second language instruction are one of the groups of educators listed under the state's site-based learning plan. This means that while teachers may not be certified now, they can work toward the certification across a number of years.

Heather Raymond, the president of the Nashua Board of Education, said the district was committed to fulfilling the three-year settlement with the justice department.

"I fully support this partnership with the DOJ," she said. "Nashua takes pride in our status as a welcoming city. Our school district has more than 1,400 students who are English language learners. The city of Nashua and the Nashua School District are committed to working together to create more equitable learning opportunities for our community’s children."

The district's new superintendent, Garth McKinney, said steps had already been taken to help the students overcome language barriers.

"We are focused on doing all we can to support students to read, write, and speak in English so they can fully participate in their classes," he said. "Today we are looking to hire more teachers certified to teach English as a second language to alleviate the shortfall in our teaching ranks."

Mayor Jim Donchess, in 2019, worked with the district to establish a $200,000 contingency fund to hire four English language learner teachers. He, too, said Nashua was a welcoming city and joined the board in recognizing that more needed to be done for English learners.

Yeney Naranjo Armenteros was hired as the ELL communication coordinator for the district months after the investigation started. She saw her role as forging relationships between families and the schools.

"We're working to create a more reliable and consistent interpreting process for families who request language interpretation," she said. "Our teachers now utilize new translation apps to make sure important messages about student classroom work reach home successfully. Our families know that we are available to help their understanding of school and how their children are doing in school and will fulfill interpreting and translation services, as needed."

The fiscal year the complaint was filed, the Nashua School District received an extra $736,337 in state aid to assist in educating 1,035 students categorized as English language learners, according to data from the New Hampshire Department of Education. During the next two years, the district received $1.75 million in extra state aid to assist about 1,200 students. Next year, the district is expected to receive more than $871,000 in state aid to educate around 1,175 students, the state data reported.

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