District hires bilingual teacher to assist Puerto Rican students

The Elyria School District will welcome a new member to its staff to assist the wave of students who have come to Elyria from Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

After hearing word the district needed its hands on another Spanish-speaking faculty member, David Bloomfield, a seventhgrade teacher at Elyria’s Northwood Middle School, suggested his wife, Carmen, for the job.

Carmen Bloomfield said she is a bilingual certified teacher who taught in Lorain City Schools for several years, but took time off to raise her children.

She was away from teaching for 17 years, and the couple said they thought the time was right to take the opportunity and help the students from Puerto Rico.

Beginning the week of Feb. 12, Carmen Bloomfield will join the Pioneers in Elyria as a Spanishspeaking tutor at Franklin Elementary School.

Carmen Bloomfield said she is excited to help families and their children adjust easier to life after the hurricane.

Because her husband has worked in Elyria Schools for over 25 years, she said she knows many of the staff and is glad to work with them.

“I haven’t taught in years,” Carmen Bloomfield said. “I’ve had my children and I’ve worked with them and (have been) volunteering. I’m looking forward to working with little ones again.”

She said she will work with elementary children to test their language skills, as well as an interpreter to communicate with families.

Associate Superintendent Ann Schloss said a Spanish-speaking tutor will help not only Puerto Rican students from Franklin Elementary, but students in the district.

Students who have some English-speaking skills in the school system can be assisted in their own building, Schloss said.

However, the elementary students who do not know any English will all be taught by Carmen Bloomfield at Franklin, she said.

All Spanish-speaking elementary students will attend Franklin until they can be main-streamed back into their home building, Schloss said.

The district has ESL — English as a Second Language — teachers at Eastern Heights Middle School, Franklin and the high school.

Elyria staff feel that it’s important that students are with an ESL teacher right away, Schloss said.

Superintendent Thomas G. Jama said it’s crucial to have a bilingual staff for the new students from Puerto Rico.

Jama said he’s known the Bloomfield family for years and is thrilled to have Carmen Bloomfield join the staff.

“(Carmen’s) an outstanding person and we are very excited to have her join the Elyria Pioneer family,” he said. “It’s also a double gift that she is bilingual and is able to speak Spanish.”

Bloomfield