The message that Hazleton Area School District administrators delivered to roughly 50 parents and students involved in HASD’s expanding English as a Second Language (ESL) program was simple. Parents, students and district staff need to keep an open line of communication. In conjunction with the federal Title III grant program, Deb Carr, director of curriculum and instruction, hosted an hour-long ESL parent meeting to discuss how HASD will use this year’s $146,000 Title III grant.

The state has stepped up exit criteria and began this year requiring ESL students to score proficient or better on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) when exiting the program. Title III money has been used to install telephones at all schools that connect staff and students to people who could translate 150 different languages, Carr said. Staff and a student can use the phones simultaneously and a third line could connect a parent, Carr noted. HASD’s ESL programs are mostly “pull out,” except at Hazleton Area High School, where it is offered as a class.

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