Schools to Hire Consultant to Study Bellflower Newcomer Plan : Education: The expert will attempt to ensure that the district complies with state and federal regulations before it puts some students in a separate language-learning facility.

The Bellflower Unified School District will hire an expert in state and federal education codes to review its controversial plan to place students who speak little or no English in a separate school.

Josephina Naya, a former consultant with the state Department of Education, will review the district’s preliminary plan for a Newcomer Center to ensure that it meets all state and federal regulations.

The district’s plan, which was given initial approval by the board last month, has been criticized by some bilingual education experts who caution that a separate school site for limited English-speaking students could be seen as an attempt to segregate minority students.

Critics of the plan also questioned the academic wisdom of placing limited- and non-English speaking students in an isolated environment in which they are separated from students who speak English.

Students who speak little English would be transferred to Baxter or Los Flores elementary schools if the plan is given final approval by the board. The students would attend the Newcomer Center, with their parents’ permission, for up to one year. District administrators said that the center could open as early as September.

Naya declined to comment on the Bellflower plan, saying that she has yet to review it. But she said, “a plan that puts (a special group of) children at a separate school has to be approached cautiously. There may be the fear of isolating students.”

She said that the state Department of Education will allow such programs if students are enrolled for a temporary period, if the entrance and exit criteria are clear, and it is clearly determined that students will benefit more than they would in a typical classroom setting or other instructional program. She also said that students must be given a structured program in which they have access to the same curriculum as other district students.

Naya, who is now an administrator with the 23,000-student Corona/Norco Unified School District in Riverside County, will be paid up to $1,200 from school improvement funds.

She worked for four years as a consultant with the state Department of Education’s office of compliance. As a compliance officer, she traveled to districts throughout the state to ensure that school programs were meeting federal and state guidelines governing the instruction of bilingual, low-income, disadvantaged and other children. She also trained district officials on ways to implement special programs. She was asked to review the plan by Bellflower Unified School District officials about a month ago. Assistant Supt. Rebecca Turrentine said the board’s decision to hire Naya is simply part of the process to ensure that the Newcomer Center meets legal requirements before opening.

“She is very thorough and that’s what we want, because if there is a problem (with our plan) we want to fix it before we implement it,” Turrentine said.

Turrentine said that addressing legal questions is just one of three requirements that must be met before the center opens. The other two include the hiring of qualified personnel and the receipt of $390,000 in state money to start the center.

District administrators have argued that the Newcomer Center could give limited-English speaking students a learning advantage they do not have now. There are about 650 limited-English speaking students in the district. Most are Latino; many are Korean. The students are scattered throughout the district and qualified bilingual teachers and instructional materials are spread thin. District officials have said that the Newcomer Center would allow them to group all students who speak little or no English in one setting where they will receive greater attention from teachers.

Board member Don Hansen said that while some limited-English speakers benefit when they are immersed in the American system and are constantly surrounded by native speakers, others do not. As a result, students are unable to keep up with their classmates, he said. Despite the opposition of some bilingual education experts, Hansen said: “I frankly don’t know if (the Newcomer Center) will work, but we have to give it a try. We have to try somehow to reach these kids before they fall by the wayside.”

Naya said that Bellflower Unified School District is not alone in its attempt to find new ways to teach students who speak little or no English. With growing numbers of such students, and inadequate numbers of bilingual teachers to serve them, many districts throughout the state have grappled with new teaching approaches.

While experts have criticized some portions of the Bellflower plan, they have also praised the district for adding a new dimension to Newcomer Centers, including a community services clearinghouse where parents can receive information on social services, take parenting classes and enroll in adult English-education programs. The district may also add a magnet program for English speakers at the Newcomer Center.

A series of meetings to discuss the Newcomer Center will be held at several schools in the next two weeks. The next meeting will take place at 7 p.m. March 25 at the Bellflower High School cafeteria.