Last week’s hirings of a new principal and vice principal at Hightstown High School are one part of the district’s plan to address the racial diversity in its schools.
By: Michael Arges
Responding to the increasing ethnic and cultural diversity at Hightstown High School and elsewhere is a priority for the East Windsor Regional School District’s board and administration, said Chief School Administrator David Witmer.
One important step forward is the hiring of a new high school principal who has specialized in diversity issues, Dr. Witmer suggested. He said he hopes that another piece of the diversity puzzle will be a monthly open forum with translators available for a free give and take involving board members, staff, parents and other members of the public.
The increasing ethnic and cultural diversity of the district makes it absolutely necessary for the district to address linguistic and cultural barriers, he explained.
"The only way that we can exist is if we work together," Dr. Witmer said. "We’re going to continue to try to find ways to bring groups together."
Between October 2000 and October 2001 administrators are projecting an increase from 366 to 461 in the total number of district students needing English as a second language (ESL) or bilingual education services.
East Windsor is the most diverse school district in Mercer County, according to figures provided by Ken Boardman, district program supervisor for bilingual education and ESL programs. More than 8 percent of East Windsor students receive ESL or bilingual services in comparison with 7.5 percent in Trenton, the second-most diverse district.
The increase in diversity may be accelerating, Mr. Boardman indicated in an interview earlier this year.
"In the past, enrollments of ESL/bilingual students have been going up 10 to 15 percent per year," he said. This year, district leaders are expecting a 25 percent increase.
Diversity will be one of the priority issues for a new series of open forums the board is considering for this coming school year, Dr. Witmer said.
"One of the things the board’s looking at for this year is having a big board forum where we will have a meeting set aside once a month just for the purpose of discussing issues or concerns that the public might have," he said. "We’ll still have the public forum at the board meetings, but this will be a whole night when we can discuss things back and forth, and diversity will be one of the main things that we’ll be talking about at one of the early-on meetings. Each meeting we’ll have two or three items that we’re going to discuss and then after that anything that anybody else wants to discuss."
Board members are thinking about having these forums monthly in addition to the two regular monthly board meetings. The time will be given over to free discussion back and forth a much more informal format than the present public forums, where there is little or no discussion back and forth between board members and the public.
"One of the complaints that some people have about our public forum now is that there’s no chance for dialogue," Dr. Witmer said. "No decisions will be made; there’ll be no board action."
Dr. Witmer said that there will be Spanish and Punjabi translators at all of those meetings. Spanish and Punjabi are the most common first languages of district students receiving ESL and bilingual services in the school district.
Specifics of time and place for the forums are still under discussion, though they will likely be Monday nights, Dr. Witmer said.
Dr. Witmer said he also hopes that the new Hightstown High principal, William M. Roesch, will help the district better address the needs of diverse students.
"The new principal we just hired has extensive experience, in his community where he is now, on diversity and bringing groups of different backgrounds together," Dr. Witmer said, "so that’s one of the things we’re excited about."
Mr. Roesch is also the incoming president of the Diversity 2000 Council, an organization affiliated to Kean University. The council promotes ethnic and cultural diversity through student conferences and continuing education for teachers and staff.
Bringing people together at the high school is also a priority issue for Seton Hall professor and East Windsor resident David Abalos, who has written and taught extensively on diversity issues.
One of Dr. Abalos’ special concerns is a sense of separateness and segregation experienced by ESL and bilingual students.
"The students don’t feel as if they are part of the whole school," Dr. Abalos said.
The feeling of being left out is compounded by the fact that many ESL and bilingual students are in separate ESL and bilingual classes. This sense of isolation is further reinforced by their lack of participation in extracurricular activities, such as sports, the school newspaper and the arts, Dr. Abalos suggested.
"That’s one serious concern that I have, and other people in the community have discussed," he said.
Perhaps the teachers supervising these activities can take the initiative to encourage these students to get involved, Dr. Abalos suggested.
He would also like to see a program of peer mentoring to help all new students feel welcome and included. Sophomore, junior and senior students representing the high school’s ethnic and class diversity would be selected to mentor and welcome new students, he said. These student mentors would be present at the orientation of new students to build relationships with incoming students, Dr. Abalos explained.
"These young people then would become mentors, tutors, advisors and helpers," he said. That group also can respond to students joining the high school later in the school year.
Making these connections early in the careers of new students would help heal the isolation they experience, Dr. Abalos said.
"That means that they could immediately begin to bond with people from across the schools’ ethnic and racial diversity, so that they do not become isolated in one particular group," Dr. Abalos said.
Dr. Abalos would also like to see an organization of adult volunteer mentors ready to help when students are in academic or behavioral trouble. As soon as students run into trouble there should be a program of tutoring and counseling ready for them.
He would also like to see connections with local police departments, so when police officers see a student in potential trouble it will be easy for them to alert community mentors who can help, Dr. Abalos said.
Dr. Abalos would like to see more intervention when students get into trouble or drop out. Now if a pupil gets into significant trouble, he or she is immediately expelled. But Dr. Abalos wonders how that can do any good, if there is no follow-up.
"Whatever caused that problem if it’s drinking or drugs is still going to remain," he said.
He has no specific objections to the recent expulsions of alleged drug dealers at the high school, because he has no information.
"The only concern that I have is that, as far as I know, the community was not involved," Dr. Abalos said. "I understand that there has to be a certain amount of confidentiality; nevertheless that confidentiality really hides the issues that are there."
Dr. Abalos also would like to see exit interviews when students drop out, so there can be some diagnosis of, and intervention in, their situations.
"They don’t have any exit interview where someone says, ‘Well, why are you dropping out? Are you returning to Ecuador? Is it for a job? Is it for a situation at home do you have to work because there is no money? Is it because you feel the teachers here don’t care about you, or because you’ve experienced racism?’" Dr. Abalos said.
Without such follow-up, things can get progressively worse for a young person, Dr. Abalos said. So far as he knows, there are no bilingual counselors at the high school to conduct such interviews or interventions, he added.
Finally, Dr. Abalos would like to see a separate department for ESL and bilingual teachers so that there can be better long-term planning for students’ development.
"At the present time the ESL teachers meet with the English teachers, and most of the time is taken up dealing with English curriculum concerns very little time for ESL issues," he said.
Dr. Abalos hopes that the coming of the new high school principal and assistant principal, Diana L. Chase, will herald a now era of cooperation among parents, administrators, teachers and community members.