Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
That's what you call my label right there. Dual Language
six twenty two is her time here in Houston's Warning News.
And evidently there weren't as many kids enrolled in the
dual language program Conro ISD schools, and the superintendent toyed
with the idea of eliminating the program. Well, that got
some parents upset. They went to the school board. They
(00:20):
complained loud and clear. One of the school board members
joins us, Melica Sembler. She's a Conroe ISD board member.
She's part of You probably get tired of hearing this, Melissa,
but I'll go ahead and say it again anyway. She's
part of an all female conservative school board, the only
one I'm aware of in the entire country.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, yeah, that's still pretty sure hearing that. Yeah, it
is really cool. My daughter I thinks it's great. I
really like being able to share that with her.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Yeah, let's let's talk about what happened with this dual
language program here. We had a number of very upset
parents about it. They went to the media. Of course,
there's nothing there's nothing that that schools hate more, especially superintendents,
than parents going to the media. They don't they don't
like that at all. So what led to the initial decision,
(01:07):
evidently by the superintendent that they were going to eliminate
this program.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
So from what I understood, we were having some enrollment
issues with the program, and we were also having a
hard time finding we don't need just English as the
second language certified teachers for that program. We actually need
bilingual teachers who can speak both English and Spanish, and
those are increasingly rare. Really, Yeah, it was a combination
(01:34):
of enrollment issues and meeting bilingual teachers.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I guess that surprises me a little bit that there
aren't more bilingual teachers. You would think by especially here
in Texas, by the nature of where we are and
as many Hispanic group of residents that we have, that
we'd have plenty of people who understand English and Spanish.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
You think so. But increasingly education has had teachers leaving,
and teacher attention is one of our big priorities right now.
So when you've got a lot of teachers leaving and
you need a specialty teacher, like a bilanguage teacher, it
makes them even harder to find.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Okay, So in other words, you're not offering enough money
to keep on unemployed. Is that what you're telling me, well, I.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Think it's partially that, but I also think there's a
lot of issues going on in the classroom right now
that makes teaching a very stressful job.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah, so my understanding is is that you folks voted
to save the program, but if the problem is still
finding qualified teachers in order to be able to teach
the program, how are you going to be able to
save the program.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
I'm not entirely sure. They said we're going to table
the vote actually, so they just they decided not to
kill the program that night, but we're not really sure
how it's going to proceed forward. I need to get
with the district about what they're planning to do, because
we definitely need more teachers. And then we are also
having a lot of students leave the program around third grade,
(02:59):
so they're not finishing the program. And with a bilingual
program or a dual language program, you have to have
fifty percent of your students speaking English and fifty percent
speaking Spanish, or you could move it to a seventy
thirty ratio. We have seventy percent speaking Spanish and thirty
percent speaking English, but those ratios are really important to maintain.
(03:20):
So if you have a lot of students leaving the program.
It throws off the entire program.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I got you. So the program is not saved just yet,
you just have tabled it up until this point. Does
the superintendent routinely communicate with you when they're talking about
making curriculum changes?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Not routinely. He always answers our questions. We were actually
really surprised this was on the agenda. We didn't know
it was coming. So that was something that I wish
that we had known more about.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Okay, my guess is you would prefer that they did
give you a heads up on these things going forward, right.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yes, yeah, especially we're gonna have to kill a program
that people are obviously very invested in.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yeah, because that's really the only place for parents to speak.
It's not like they can go knock on the superintendent's store,
sit down and say I don't like the fact that
you are talking about eliminating this program. The school board
being is the only place they can go. And if
you're not aware of what it is that the other
hand is doing, that's problematic.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, yeah, it is. We had eighty five people speak
tot night, so I mean, people were very upcit about
the program. It was a record, all right.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Well, it's always, it's always, it's always something negative that
leads to a record attendance at the school board meeting, right, Yeah,
it's never because they want to come and tell you
how great things are. All right, Melissa, there was one
of those. Oh well that's good. That's good. At least
there was one of those. But thanks for sharing, Thanks
for sharing that story with us, and please keep us
(04:49):
posted on how this ends up. Melissa Semiler at Conroe ID.
She's a school board member.
That's what you call my label right there. Dual Language
six twenty two is her time here in Houston's Warning News.
And evidently there weren't as many kids enrolled in the
dual language program Conro ISD schools, and the superintendent toyed
with the idea of eliminating the program. Well, that got
some parents upset. They went to the school board. They
(00:20):
complained loud and clear. One of the school board members
joins us, Melica Sembler. She's a Conroe ISD board member.
She's part of You probably get tired of hearing this, Melissa,
but I'll go ahead and say it again anyway. She's
part of an all female conservative school board, the only
one I'm aware of in the entire country.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, yeah, that's still pretty sure hearing that. Yeah, it
is really cool. My daughter I thinks it's great. I
really like being able to share that with her.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Yeah, let's let's talk about what happened with this dual
language program here. We had a number of very upset
parents about it. They went to the media. Of course,
there's nothing there's nothing that that schools hate more, especially superintendents,
than parents going to the media. They don't they don't
like that at all. So what led to the initial decision,
(01:07):
evidently by the superintendent that they were going to eliminate
this program.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
So from what I understood, we were having some enrollment
issues with the program, and we were also having a
hard time finding we don't need just English as the
second language certified teachers for that program. We actually need
bilingual teachers who can speak both English and Spanish, and
those are increasingly rare. Really, Yeah, it was a combination
(01:34):
of enrollment issues and meeting bilingual teachers.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I guess that surprises me a little bit that there
aren't more bilingual teachers. You would think by especially here
in Texas, by the nature of where we are and
as many Hispanic group of residents that we have, that
we'd have plenty of people who understand English and Spanish.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
You think so. But increasingly education has had teachers leaving,
and teacher attention is one of our big priorities right now.
So when you've got a lot of teachers leaving and
you need a specialty teacher, like a bilanguage teacher, it
makes them even harder to find.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Okay, So in other words, you're not offering enough money
to keep on unemployed. Is that what you're telling me, well, I.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Think it's partially that, but I also think there's a
lot of issues going on in the classroom right now
that makes teaching a very stressful job.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah, so my understanding is is that you folks voted
to save the program, but if the problem is still
finding qualified teachers in order to be able to teach
the program, how are you going to be able to
save the program.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
I'm not entirely sure. They said we're going to table
the vote actually, so they just they decided not to
kill the program that night, but we're not really sure
how it's going to proceed forward. I need to get
with the district about what they're planning to do, because
we definitely need more teachers. And then we are also
having a lot of students leave the program around third grade,
(02:59):
so they're not finishing the program. And with a bilingual
program or a dual language program, you have to have
fifty percent of your students speaking English and fifty percent
speaking Spanish, or you could move it to a seventy
thirty ratio. We have seventy percent speaking Spanish and thirty
percent speaking English, but those ratios are really important to maintain.
(03:20):
So if you have a lot of students leaving the program.
It throws off the entire program.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I got you. So the program is not saved just yet,
you just have tabled it up until this point. Does
the superintendent routinely communicate with you when they're talking about
making curriculum changes?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Not routinely. He always answers our questions. We were actually
really surprised this was on the agenda. We didn't know
it was coming. So that was something that I wish
that we had known more about.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Okay, my guess is you would prefer that they did
give you a heads up on these things going forward, right.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yes, yeah, especially we're gonna have to kill a program
that people are obviously very invested in.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yeah, because that's really the only place for parents to speak.
It's not like they can go knock on the superintendent's store,
sit down and say I don't like the fact that
you are talking about eliminating this program. The school board
being is the only place they can go. And if
you're not aware of what it is that the other
hand is doing, that's problematic.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, yeah, it is. We had eighty five people speak
tot night, so I mean, people were very upcit about
the program. It was a record, all right.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Well, it's always, it's always, it's always something negative that
leads to a record attendance at the school board meeting, right, Yeah,
it's never because they want to come and tell you
how great things are. All right, Melissa, there was one
of those. Oh well that's good. That's good. At least
there was one of those. But thanks for sharing, Thanks
for sharing that story with us, and please keep us
(04:49):
posted on how this ends up. Melissa Semiler at Conroe ID.
She's a school board member.
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