Thread: Waukegan seeks more bi-lingual teachers

Waukegan seeks to hire more certified bilingual teachers

December 20, 2006
By Ryan Pagelow
With the influx of Spanish-speaking students in recent years and competition with wealthier neighboring school districts, Waukegan Public Schools has struggled to have certified teachers in all bilingual classrooms. The district has had to use substitute teachers -- who have college degrees but are not certified teachers -- to fill the gap not only in the English Language Learners program but also in the special education program.

The number of substitute teachers used in place of a permanent certified teacher has decreased in the district from 71 long-term substitutes during the 2000-2001 school year to 16 last year and 34 this year.

A substitute may teach for no more than 90 paid school days in any one school district, according to the Illinois School Code. Since the 2000-2001 school year the district has requested waivers from the Illinois School Code.


RELATED STORIES
• Profesores suplentes en clases bilingí¼es Distrito escolar de Waukegan busca emplear más maestros certificados
The Waukegan Community Unit District 60 school board voted Tuesday to submit a request for a waiver of the Illinois School Code which extends the number of days next year that a substitute can be used to 176, which amounts to the entire school year.
"It's our intent not to have any (long term substitutes) at all, even if we get the waiver," said Fredrick Howard, executive director of human resources for the district.

Since the beginning of this month seven more certified teachers have been hired to replace the long-term subs.

The district continues to recruit to fill the gaps, and as teachers are hired they will replace the long-term subs, he said.

In 2000, the first year the district asked for a waiver, the district had a shortage of math and science teachers. Since then the district has managed to fill that gap. The district has also made progress in lowering the number of subs used to teach special education to six or seven. The continuing need is in bilingual education.

"We continue to get the influx of bilingual, and can't keep up with the incoming students," Howard said.

The district has gone to Spain and the Philippines to recruit bilingual and English as a second language teachers, and is making an effort to recruit from Mexico, Howard said.

The official enrollment count for students in Waukegan Public Schools this year is 16,925, up from 16,253 last year. The number of students increased by 672 this year, enough students to fill an elementary school building.

The number of Hispanic students in the district was 68 percent in 2005, up from 62.6 percent in 2002 and is highest in the lower grades.



http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/news ... S2.article

I say No!