Immigrant moms want more involvement in Bridgeport schools
BRIDGEPORT — A group of immigrant moms in Bridgeport is calling for a louder voice in their childrens’ education.
Three members of Make the Road Connecticut, an organization that advocates for immigrant, Latino and working-class communities, told members of the school board this week they felt left out of the loop with their childrens’ bilingual education.
Almost 4,000 children — or more than 40 percent of Bridgeport Public School’s population — qualify as English language learners. Most speak Spanish, but dozens of different languages are also spoken.
“We need changes now,” Bridgeport mom Minerva Antigua told the school board at its meeting.
The women had a list of demands — and had created a flyer — they said would help the district better serve its ELL population.
Among the actions included making sure teachers and administrators understood and followed the law about what services must be provided in the bilingual education program and that information is publicly available to nonEnglish speaking families; making sure the district provided bilingual programs at neighborhood schools where there are more than 20 students who need it; and providing busing to students participating in the bilingual programs at Batalla and Marin schools whether they live in the neighborhood or outside it.
They also urged the district to allocate COVID-19 relief funds to English language learners, and increase community involvement through a parent advisory committee and more publicly available information.
A request for comment from schools Superintendent Michael Testani was not immediately returned.
Yorelys Cardenas told board members her daughter was in the bilingual program at Luis Munoz Marin Elementary until the fifth grade. She said she was left in the dark about her daughter’s progress, and whether or not she was able to enter a classroom entirely in English or remained in the bilingual program.
“It is important that we as parents are involved in any decision that is made in the education of our children,” she said through a translator.
“I’m here today because I know I’m not the only parent who has been through this,” she said. “This is not happening because of the pandemic, but it has been going on for many years. And the pandemic has just made the situation worse for the ELL (English language learner) students.”
Nohelia Sanchez, whose family arrived in Bridgeport a year ago, said at first she didn’t know that her son had taken an English language proficiency test nor that the results had landed him in a bilingual program.
New students in the district are tested for English language proficiency. If they pass, they take classes in English; if they don’t, they can be offered a bilingual program where teachers speak their first language as they learn English.
“I never knew what kind of program he was in, what the expectations were of this program or how they were monitoring his progress in this program,” said Sanchez through a translator.
Once she became aware of the program and her rights as a parent, she said she got in touch with the school.
“It’s not fair that we have to seek out and demand all of this information to the schools, when it is the duty of the schools to communicate with each and every parent of a student,” she said.
“Our ESL (English as a Second Language)-bilingual families receive a letter at the beginning and the end of every school year, notification of progress and participation,” Testani said at the meeting.
Make the Road founded a campaign to improve public education for Bridgeport’s English language learners in 2019. The organization surveyed parents and found that many were unaware of the services the district provides for their kids.
The advocacy group presented the results to the district, and together had planned five forums to get parents involved in their children’s education. But after low attendance at the first two meetings, the district canceled the later sessions.
“That was really upsetting for us,” said Wendy Cardenas, a Make the Road organizer. She said the group then shifted its campaign to policy research and program suggestions, and met with representatives from the state.
Make the Road is now planning a forum for April, and members say they will continue elevating the voices of immigrants in their children’s education.
“This is already supposed to be happening,” said Cardenas.