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English Language Learners Increasing in Simpson County Schools

Simpson County Schools

The Simpson County School District is seeing a rise in the number of students who don’t speak English as their native language.

The overall percentage of the district’s 3,000 students who don't speak English as their first language remains small, but has more than doubled in the last couple of years.

Superintendent Jim Flynn said the need to add staff for those students became clear.

“We’ve really increased from probably having about 15 or 20 students to now we’re somewhere between 40 and 50 students.”

The district has added another teacher this academic year for English Language Learners, to go along with another part-time teacher working with ELL students.

Flynn said the ELL teachers travel among the county schools from pre-K through high school. He says some of the students they help have had breaks in their formal education.

“It’s all ages, but predominantly when they come into high school, and sometimes middle school, we’ll see those gaps where they’ve been in transition, moving with their families and haven’t been in school for two or three or more years.”

Flynn says ELL students transition to regular academic programs when they’re ready. He says the district mission is to have ELL students, like all students, be academically and socially prepared for college or career when they graduate from high school.

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