PITTSBURGH \u2014 Parents of students who attend Banksville Elementary School say they were surprised when they found out that the district is cutting half of the school\u2019s English Language Development teachers. <\/p>\n
They say it doesn\u2019t make sense to them because over half of the students who attend Banksville don\u2019t speak English as their first language.<\/p>\n
Kaila Jendrzejwski says she\u2019s looking for answers from Pittsburgh Public Schools after finding out 3 of 6 English Language Development teachers at Banksville Elementary are being reassigned starting Monday. <\/p>\n
Jendrzejwski said, \u201cWhat is the plan? How do we keep moving forward in this school when it\u2019s known to be an ESL school and you took 3 of those teachers away, so how does that work now?\u201d<\/p>\n
English is not the first language for over half of the students who go here.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to Banksville 2 years ago. I knew all the teachers there and I think it\u2019s not fair that teachers are getting kicked out,\u201d said Mais, who only spoke Arabic when she started at the elementary school. \u201cThat was me but ever since I met those teachers, I learned how to learn English.\u201d<\/p>\n
Friday, Channel 11 asked Pittsburgh Public Schools why it made the decision to reassign ELD teachers throughout the district.<\/p>\n
The district says it\u2019s due to an annual class size adjustment process known as leveling. PPS says the practice is to ensure staffing aligns with student enrollment and instructional needs, saying the three ELD teachers were reassigned to other schools with growing ELD populations.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom my perspective, I don\u2019t know what research was done. I\u2019ve asked questions, I haven\u2019t gotten answers yet,\u201d Jendrejwski explained.<\/p>\n
Jendrzejwski says she emailed the superintendent but hasn\u2019t heard back yet. She\u2019s worried that the district\u2019s decision puts too much on the teachers.<\/p>\n
She continued, \u201cSo in the 5th grade class, if there are 28 kids, now that main teacher is responsible for all 28 students, no matter what they speak, no matter what they learn. that\u2019s how it\u2019s going to be and that\u2019s overwhelming as a parent to know that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh Public Schools says that Banksville Elementary School continues to have 12 certified ELD teachers on staff.<\/p>\n
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