School Context paper

Rasni Hul
Dr. Lesley Bogad
FNED 346.05
October 05, 2008
Learning in a Diverse Community
The school that I am volunteering at is Hanley Vocational. However, the school is temporarily located in West Broadway Elementary while the Hanley building is still under construction. Upon arrival, the building door was open and I already knew where the main office was located so I walked right in and I did not see a secretary because she was busy making copies. Outside the main office about shoulder level, I noticed there was a few no smoking sign in Spanish. On the bulletin board adjacent to the office, right across the main doors is a “Welcome” sign and a space for students that made the honor roll. There are also motivational signs inspiring students to succeed and continue to higher education.
While interviewing the vice principal, we came to the conclusion that a majority of the population are Hispanic and Caucasian are the minority. There are approximately three hundred students and sixty percent are Hispanic, ten are Asian, twenty-five are black or African American or related (Haitian, Liberian, Nigeria, etc), and five percent are White. With the large Spanish population, however, there were little Spanish signs posted on the walls. There are notices that are sent home in other languages. “Important notices” such as testing dates, no school days and so on and so forth are sent home in Spanish if necessary and also Cambodian upon request. Although the diversity is great, the school only manages to be able to translate two languages.
The faculty consists of one black, and at least five are Hispanic and the rest are Caucasian. With only twenty staff and three hundred students, the school seems very handled and under control.
There are a handful of students that does not respect their teachers, but respect their principals so few problems are created. There are three levels of ESL classes: beginner, which is three hours a day, Intermediate that decreases to two hours a day, and lastly the advanced that, is only an hour a day. However, with the renovations, there are currently no ESL programs available and teachers speak strictly English. If interpreters are needed to speak with parents, the principal is Hispanic so he translates and the Cambodian teacher’s aide gets called in from Central. During my time there, I did not notice the students speaking any other language besides the English language, which surprised me. All the students speaks, writes, reads and understands the English language well.
The vice principal did mention segregation in the lunchroom. All the kids sat with other kids that were the same ethnicity. A student standing close by overheard and disagreed with the vice principal.
When Hanley gets finished next year, it will finally separate from Central and become it’s own school. About twelve hundred students are expected to occupy the school. New staff are going to be a must and interpreters as well.