Academy to groom bilingual teachers

EDUCATION: Westminster High School's program will operate out of the Huntington Beach district.

WESTMINSTER, CA—Westminster High School in September will launch Orange County’s first academy for students interested in becoming bilingual teachers.

The program, spearheaded by teacher Kathy Iverson, will operate out of Huntington Beach Union High School District, where 59 percent of the students who speak little English have no certified bilingual teacher in their classroom.

“The big thing is getting (high school) students prepared for a career in education and getting some internships to get them inside of these classrooms,” said Norm Gold, a state manager of bilingual-education compliance.

The state funded the $ 85,000 program as part of a series of efforts to alleviate a shortage of bilingual teachers.

Orange County needs an estimated 1,400 bilingual teachers to meet government guidelines.

Countywide, the number of students with limited English skills has jumped more than 6 percent, from 119,757 to 127,054 this year.

Westminster Elementary School District received a waiver from the state from some of the guidelines in February; Magnolia School District has applied for similar permission.

Westminster High School has 2,330 students, just under half of them limited English speakers fluent in at least 17 languages.

Staff writer Ana Menendez contributed to this story.<



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