School District 50’s controversial pre-1st-grade program, a special grade between kindergarten and 1st grade, will continue for at least one more year, the school board decided this week.
The board also approved hiring another 1st grade teacher, two bilingual teachers and the full-time equivalent of 2.5 bilingual aides for the coming school year, said school board Vice President Roger Wilhoit.
The board’s actions Monday night represented a compromise in the controversy involving the pre-1st and bilingual programs.
Administrators had proposed eliminating the pre-1st program, but pre-1st teachers questioned whether the school board was sacrificing it to make room for more bilingual teachers and aides.
“We came up with what we felt was a compromise solution to this situation,” Wilhoit said. “And we feel that we are starting to address our bilingual issue, but by no means are we satisfied with it.”
Enrollment in the pre-1st program, which is in its seventh year, is about 21 pupils, said Sue Smith, the school system’s improvement coordinator. Some pupils advance to the 1st grade sooner than one year, she said.
At the school board’s direction last month, Smith researched the effectiveness of the pre-1st program, but the study was inconclusive, Wilhoit said.