School district community event focuses on English learners

The Carson City School District focused on fulfilling the needs of its English learners at its Community Connections event Sept. 18 in the Carson High School library.

Tanya Scott, director of CCSD’s English learner and pre-kindergarten programming, said the district has about 975 students in its program with about 20 languages represented.

At the end of the 2023-24 school year, there were 192 immigrant students, or about 20% of its multicultural population, and about 34 self-reported refugee students. Another 105 had been in the United States for two years or less. Scott said there are approximately 508 students who are considered short-term, staying between two and five years. There are 261 long-term English as a Second Language learners who have been in the program for more than six years.

The majority of all these students are in the middle or high schools, she said.

“With that in mind, we have lots of different programs and opportunities for students to meet their needs,” Scott said.

Reading an excerpt from the book, “Spanish is My Superpower,” Scott said the literature celebrates an idea the district seeks to cultivate.

“We really do believe that multilingualism is a superpower,” Scott said. “(Students) have heightened memory, the ability to process information, higher thinking skills, visual and spatial skills, creativity and social skills.”

She said the district advocates for proficiency in dual languages so students can earn a seal of biliteracy on their diploma when they graduate. Last year, 16 students received the seal.

Superintendent Andrew Feuling said the Community Connections event helps community members learn about Carson City schools’ offerings.

“We have students every day here that are, for the first time, coming to a school in the United States and they don't speak any English, and then you have some students who, you know, they have been here for a number of years and they have been progressing and learning English and depending on how they're testing, they may test out,” Feuling said. “And then they just go into regular classes, like every other kiddo, they don't get any other support but they are ready to go and ready to learn and they’re successful here in school.”

A portion of the $2 million in funding that Gov. Joe Lombardo committed to education for the biennium helped to bolster the weights of the Pupil-Centered Funding Plan, which included $3,137 for at-risk students such as English learners. Feuling said he was grateful to the governor for recognizing the need to help these populations.

“Certainly, there is a great need if we're going to provide the level of service that we see in other states that have incredibly successful K-12 education systems, and there is a need for more funding,” Feuling said.

Staff members also promoted various events coming up to engage families. CCSD’s Multilingual Learner Vision Team will offer an evening with NASA astronaut Jose Hernandez at Carson High School’s High Tech Center. Hernandez, whose life story is the focus of the film “A Million Miles Away,” will talk about the challenges he faced in achieving his dream of traveling to space. The presentation will be in Spanish and English at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 3.

One mother who attended the Community Connections event, Reina Ortiz, had a son who attended and took Spanish 3 at Carson High and has exited the EL program, according to social studies teacher Jennifer Chandler. Ortiz said in Spanish she enjoyed the program and that it helped to develop her son’s language skills.

Chandler said Ortiz’s son wrote to astronaut Hernandez, who will be visiting in October.