Expect People-Intensive School Board Meeting at High School



Cheryl Dyer, Assistant Superintendent (Bergeron Images)

The next work session of the Bridgewater-Raritan School Board is scheduled for Tuesday, June 14^th, at 8:00 PM, in the High School on Garretson Road.  The meeting’s agenda is expected to attract a large group of parents who have become focused on a particularly controversial topic which may be resolved by Board action on Tuesday.

The issue relates to a staff report originally presented to the School Board on May 17^th and updated on May 24^th.  It concerns a proposal to establish an ESL (English as a Second Language) Magnet School Program at the Bradley Gardens Elementary School for students from kindergarten through 4^th grade. 

That plan, if implemented, would involve busing about 112 students from around the District to Bradley Gardens.  It also would involve consolidating another 12 ELL students (English Language Learners) at the Hillside School, accounting for a total of 124 students who would be bused away from their neighborhood schools.

 Under the proposal, parents would have the choice to opt their children out of that Magnet School Program, making it uncertain at this point, whether the plan could succeed as presented.

Since the original plan was publicly placed before the full School Board on May 17^th, there has been a significant pushback from parents who attended explanatory forums at the Bradley Gardens School. 

On Tuesday evening, the public will find out to what extent the Administration and the School Board may have had second thoughts, and whether or not the “other options” contained in the original proposal will come to the forefront for discussion and approval. 

This has become a serious educational matter, because students with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) in the B-R School District are not meeting educational benchmarks. 

Under an agenda item entitled “ESL Magnet Program Proposal (action may be taken),” the topic will come up very early in Tuesday’s meeting when it is addressed under the Superintendent’s Report.

The Program is also expected to be covered by Personnel Committee Chairwoman, Cindy Cullen, under an agenda heading which reads, “Personnel implications for ESL Magnet Program proposals . . .  using three scenarios for enrollment and staffing projections.”

In addition, the agenda calls for the Finance and Transportation Committee, chaired by Lynne Hurley, to report on it as “ESL Magnet Program proposal.”

(Click on the image for an enhanced view.)