NEW BRITAIN—A group of Smalley Elementary School parents is angry at a proposal to move the school’s bilingual program to another elementary school.

“This is our neighborhood school,” said Noemi Ramirez, a parent. “Why do we have to go across town?”

School administrators say they need to move three bilingual grades from Smalley to comply with state racial-balance laws. The law requires a school to have a similar racial makeup as the overall district.

Smalley is the second-largest school in the city with 678 students – 80 percent of whom are members of minorities. The district’s minority enrollment is about 60 percent.

The largest public school is New Britain High School, which has about 1,800 students.

The proposed move calls for bilingual classes in grades 3 to 5 at Smalley to be transferred to Chamberlain Elementary School. Chamberlain has a new wing and not enough bilingual students. Administrators have combined bilingual grades there to fill the classes, an unpopular move with parents.

Combining grades often leaves students of all levels – those who can speak little English and those who are advanced in English – competing for teachers’ attention. Parents have criticized the combination classes, saying they shortchange all students.

Moving the bilingual classes – two a grade – to Chamberlain would allow administrators to break up the school’s combined classes. But Smalley parents don’t see why their children should have to leave to solve a vacancy problem at Chamberlain.

Smalley’s bilingual program divides children into separate classes by ability. Students who are more advanced in English are able to build on their English skills.

School Principal Braulio Santiago assured Ramirez and other parents at a school meeting recently that he would support the move only if it included moving bilingual teachers as well.

“If I thought the bilingual program would be worse off,” Santiago said. “I would never agree to it.”

Santiago said he wants to make sure the two-tier system he has developed will remain at Chamberlain. Students are bused out of the neighborhood each year, but on a piecemeal basis to prevent classroom crowding.

In this move, administrators say they can move an entire program, keeping children together, and hopefully maintaining the quality of the program.

Administrators also recognize that the move harms parental involvement at a time when a new superintendent is calling on parents to take control of their schools.

“We do want parent participation,” said Jim Rhinesmith, assistant superintendent for instruction. “It is always more difficult if they have to go out of the neighborhood.”



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