Minooka High School expands bilingual parent advisory committee

MINOOKA – To meet the needs of bilingual students and families, Minooka Community High School in December 2019 started the Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee in accordance with requirements of the Illinois State Board of Education.

The BPAC meets a few times throughout the year to discuss issues related to multicultural families and students at MCHS. Some of the topics discussed by the committee include the English language learner program, the state-mandated standardized ACCESS test for ELL students, support for emerging bilingual students, and ways that MCHS can improve its services to bilingual and multicultural students and families.

“With help and advice from parents, we can give our students adequate support in embracing their cultures, provide sufficient services to the students who have English as their second language, and help bring our community closer,” said Jeff Easthon, chairman of MCHS’s world languages, music and art department. “This is an excellent opportunity to draw leadership roles from the parents in our community and to have the teachers and parents working alongside each other.”

At its meetings, the BPAC also discusses information about programs and services currently offered at MCHS, the process for identifying ELL students, recruitment for the committee, and the school’s desire to offer parents leadership opportunities within the committee.

“We would like parents to take a leadership position, discuss with us how we could better serve students who speak English as a second language, look at our curriculum and find where it lacks cultural depth so that we can supplement or replace current units/lessons with a diverse perspective,” Easthon said.

BPAC members also offer ideas about how the curriculum can better meet the needs of the diverse student population at MCHS.

Members of the BPAC include Easthon; Lena Gomez, MCHS English as a second language teacher; Kenny Lee, MCHS superintendent; Bryan Zwemke, MCHS principal; Janel Grzetich, MCHS director of curriculum and instruction; and four parents from the MCHS community.

MCHS currently is recruiting parents for BPAC. BPAC members are not required to have a student who speaks two languages to join the committee. MCHS encourages those with multicultural backgrounds or who have the interests of bilingual students in mind to join BPAC.

For information, contact Easthon at jeasthon@mchs.net or 815-521-4001, ext. 5122.