At Parker-Bennett-Curry Elementary School in Bowling Green, Ky., the flags of Bosnia, Laos, and Mexico fly along with the stars and stripes.
The school’s students speak 27 languages. Fifty-one percent are enrolled in the English as a Second Language (ESL) program. With students from as far away as Tanzania and Japan, Principal Cheri Smith describes the school as “a little U.N.”
“Unless you see a student who is just newly arrived, you almost cannot tell the difference between a native Bowling Green student and an ESL student because our students are really great about being very open, and they embrace other cultures,” she says.
While students and parents value that diversity, educating children with such varying backgrounds presents costly challenges. Smith has had to be creative with the operating budget to maintain services for native and nonnative students.
A fourth ESL teacher will be added in the fall, but Smith says it is only a temporary solution because the position is funded with federal stimulus money.
“Basically what they’re being told is ‘You get funding for the students who are in your schools,’” says Mayor Elaine Walker. “Well, it’s a lot different to be able to provide a teacher for a native English-speaking student than it is to provide a teacher for English second language.”
Despite the economic challenges the school and many of its families face, Smith is certain that their unique environment gives her students an edge in cultural understanding.
“You don’t really think in terms of the ‘other’ because everybody’s the ‘other,’” she says.
