Dist. 220 parents say funding Chinese program would create hardships

In the minds of many parents in Barrington Unit District 220, it’s an either-or decision that awaits school board members Tuesday when they choose between continuing a fledgling Chinese language immersion program or keeping class sizes in check.

While most say they have nothing against the Chinese program, they believe the $243,000 it could cost would prevent the district from maintaining appropriate teacher-student ratios in other classrooms.

“Don’t forget about the general education classroom,” said Mary Margaret Olson, a retired teacher whose granddaughters attend North Barrington School. “Having been in education myself, I know you can’t run these programs on soft money — grant money — because it isn’t always there year to year.”

The Chinese immersion program is on the chopping block after the district learned last month it would no longer receive a federal grant to fund it. The program, in its first year, teaches Mandarin Chinese to students beginning in kindergarten and potentially through high school. After graduation, the students would have an option to continue the program at the University of Illinois.

District officials have said their tentative decision to cut about 6.5 full-time positions next year is based on projections of declining enrollment, and has little to do with whether they maintain the Chinese program.

Critics say the planned cuts actually exceed the degree to which enrollment is declining and would leave the district with a number of oversized classes, as was the case in some schools like North Barrington School this year.

In most such classes, student numbers reach the upper 20s rather than the mid-20s at which they’re aimed.

School board President Brian Battle said North Barrington School started the school year with the right sized classes, but transfers caused some classroom levels to go up.

“It’s the normal migration in and out of kids,” Battle said. “Out of 163 sections of elementary, I have 14 that are marginally over and five of those are in language programs. Is it less than ideal? Yes it is. But do we try to provide support? Yes we do.”

He added that it’s impossible in March to know exactly what’s going to happen in August and later, but that the decision about the Chinese program isn’t contributing to that unknown. A bigger unknown is the forthcoming teachers contract which has yet to be negotiated, he added.

But many parents see the issue of teacher-student ratios as solvable through staffing levels. And those staffing levels are threatened by the expense of continuing the Chinese immersion program, they say.

Mike Galvan is the father of a North Barrington School kindergartner diagnosed with sensory issues. Things are not made easier by the fact that his son is in a class of 24 while his older sister’s kindergarten class had only 21 students, he said.

“Three extra kids in that classroom make a huge difference in what that teacher can do in two-and-a-half hours,” Galvan said. “The teacher doesn’t have time to make sure everyone is getting it.”

Galvan suggested the board’s spending a bit of the surplus the district has built up could possibly buy some time and make both groups of parents happy.

Parents of students in the Chinese immersion program have said they want to try to create a nonprofit fundraising agency to support it.

Michelle Lovelace of Barrington, whose children have attended Grove Avenue School, said these parents should commit to fund a certain amount for the Chinese program and bear the consequences themselves if they fall short.

“I feel the board is elected to represent the majority of the people and they’re not doing that,” Lovelace said.