Early Friday morning, Fox CT was informed the districts’ school board went with another candidate, so for now, Kelt Cooper is staying in Connecticut. It’s unclear if he will pursue another contract in New Britain, or down the line, pursue jobs out of state, but in the meantime,one of his programs is putting him at odds with thousands of families in the city.
Fox CT took a closer look at the controversy through the eyes of two students.
It’s been widely reported, Kelt Cooper has made a reputation for himself as a trail blazer. Before she was mayor, Erin Stewart was a school board member. Stewart told the New Britain Herald, “Kelt Cooper came to town to ‘shake things up’,” and Stewart says he's done a good job. But many in the district want Kelt Cooper to consider changing course- when it comes to Hispanic students, as there are serious concerns about language barriers in city schools
The U.S. Dept of Education is looking at how non-English speaking students are being taught.
New Britain 's consolidated district has a little more than 10,000 students. Of them, 6091 are Hispanic: approximately 61 percent.
Sophomore Tanairys Abreu understands what’s happening. Before high school, she tells Fox CT, she loved being a student at the Diloreto Magnet School-- one week lessons were all in English, the next all in Spanish. But Abreu’s two little sisters do not have the same learning experience. That's because in 2012, Kelt Cooper terminated the dual language system. In its place, he launched a controversial program that he had spear-headed in his last post in Texas--English is priority number one.
Taught for 4 hours a day or more.
Other subjects are much less frequently covered and not taught in Spanish.
This highly focused English Language Development curriculum (ELD) was met with resistance from many Hispanics
“I prefer my culture because that's who I am,” Tanairys Abreu told Fox CT one morning as she prepared for school, “And we all learn at different rates and in different ways.”
But even proponents for --and former students of-- the Dual Language model admit the old system wasn't without flaws.
For instance, Abreu told Fox CT, she still finds English and grammar to be the toughest subjects, even after going through Diloreto’s program in her formative years.
The superintendent wouldn't comment on this story, but in past interviews he has cited low mastery test scores as an indicator the dual language model wasn't working, especially in the all important area of 3rd grade reading.
In 2012, in New Britain’s district, 23 percent of 3rd graders were at proficiency. After Cooper’s first year on the job, that number rose to 26 percent. Now that might not seem like a big gain some, but that 3 point increase is “quite impressive,” among educators-- that's even what the State Commissioner of Education called it.
State tests measure English proficiency, but they don't touch on what additional languages kids learn. That’s where Emily Olsen comes into the story.
Olsen was also a Diloreto magnet student. She already knew English, but she became conversant in Spanish in short order. Now she knows it better than her mother, who is originally from Puerto Rico. Olsens favorite subjects are English, Reading and Writing.
The objective of the dual language model was to produce bi-lingual students, but Kelt Cooper had a different objective.
Many hope Mr. cooper will see the value of the dual language model and bring it back.
When Kelt Cooper left Texas, his district dropped his preferred English immersion model. Here in Connecticut, the dual language Spanish-English model that he terminated is still used in several towns including New London and North Windham.