Letter: Fort River Parents Raise Concerns About Future Of Dual Language Caminantes Program

The following letter was sent to Acting School Superintendent Doug Slaughter on June 5, 2023.

Thank you for agreeing to serve in this role while the community is navigating a difficult time at. Amherst Regional Public Schools (ARPS). We, the parents and caregivers of students enrolled at Fort River Elementary, are reaching out to express our deep concerns and frustration regarding the announcement that Mr. Julio Fernandez will leave his position as Assistant Principal of Fort River Elementary. This decision demonstrates a lack of real commitment to the dual language Caminantes program, our community, and the equity and social justice values that should be at the front and center of ARPS.

In the following sections, we will articulate several concerns:

1. Concerns about the process through which Mr. Fernandez has been appointed to the interim leadership position Amherst Regional Middle School (ARMS). As mentioned in a communication to the families and the educators, “Mr. Fernandez was appointed to the role of Interim Assistant Principal at Fort River in the Fall of 2021 because we believed [the ARPS leadership] that his leadership skills, expertise, and calm, confident demeanor would serve the Fort River community well, which has proven to be true. We know that Mr. Fernandez cares deeply about the Fort River community, and we are extremely grateful to him for his willingness to step into this temporary role for the benefit of our 2023-2024 7th and 8th-grade classes.”

Indeed, Mr. Fernandez demonstrated remarkable leadership skills, guiding the Fort River community through multiple critical situations, especially in the unprecedented post-pandemic time. After his initial interim appointment, Mr. Fernandez participated in the open search for the assistant principal position in the spring of 2022. Several candidates were interviewed. Many teachers, staff, and family members volunteered their time to participate in that process. Removing Mr. Fernandez from the position he attained and was chosen for by our community means dismantling the democratic process, silencing the voice of the main stakeholders, and not valuing the time and effort we put into serving our community.

In addition, we believe imposing a second interim position in such a short period on Mr. Julio Fernandez, a member of a BIPOC community, reiterates the unbalanced service that educators from historically marginalized communities are used to carrying in comparison to other educators from White and English-dominant backgrounds.

2. Concerns about the need for continuity and representation of historically marginalized communities are integral to the Caminantes program as well as to the Building Blocks and AIMS Programs. Along with Tammy Sullivan-Daley.

Fernandez has been leading Fort River Elementary through a delicate transition time. Altering that delicate equilibrium that has been strenuously developed by Tammy and Julio could seriously affect the Fort River Elementary community.

Tammy and Julio have completed rigorous professional development programs in bilingual and dual language education and special education. They are also intimately familiar with the varied needs of students on the Autism spectrum, as well as students who have experienced trauma and require behavioral support. Hence, they are perfectly positioned to bridge the different educational programs at Fort River Elementary and represent collaborative role models for educators and families from different socio-cultural and ethnolinguistic backgrounds.

3. Concerns about the lack of support of Latiné/Latinx Spanish teachers at Fort River. It has been announced: “We are also conducting a full internal and external search for a teacher leader who will take over for Katie Richardson in the coming year. Although Ms. Richardson’s administrative role in the Caminantes program has been part-time, we are seeking a full-time, bicultural, multilingual teacher-leader who will oversee the Caminantes program as well as provide outreach and support for Fort River families. Fort River will see a net increase in staffing for next year as a result of these changes, with an explicit focus on the Caminantes program as well as community engagement, both of which are goals for the school.”

We request more information about this teacher leader role as we are concerned about the power imbalance that will place this person in an ineffective role at Fort River. We do believe we need a full-time Dual Language Coordinator at Fort River, but we argue that such a role needs to be supported by: (a) training in leadership; (b) the ability to take the lead and make decisions in terms of the curriculum both horizontally (meaning collaboration among Spanish and English teachers, including alignment of reading interventionist with Caminantes program goals and three pillars of dual language education) and vertically (from grade K to grade 4th and beyond); (c) appropriate compensation.

Let’s be clear, Fort River Elementary indeed needs both a full-time position dedicated to the Caminates program and a strong leadership team, not a teacher-leader position in lieu of dedicated leadership. This is an overdue act of support that educators, staff, and our families have been demanding since the beginning of the program. This cannot replace the departure of Mr. Fernandez and needs to be accomplished regardless of the presence of Mr. Fernandez in the leadership role at Fort River. Se lo debemos a nuestros estudiantes y nuestros educadores – we absolutely owe this to our students and educators.

We are concerned that the Spanish side teachers do not have adequate support in the classroom. This is detrimental to the students’ development and doesn’t serve the professional development of educators. For the last ten years, the district has invested in training and staffing to support co-teaching across the elementary schools as we know whole group instruction is not the best instructional model. In order to truly meet the social justice mission the School Committee intended when developing the Caminantes program, there needs to be more of an investment in training and adequate staffing to provide more small-group instructional opportunities in the Caminantes program.

We urge you to reconsider the ARPS leadership decision and to create an advisory board considering the educators and the families’ perspectives in Caminantes. We would be happy to provide further information upon request and meet with you and your team to further explore opportunities to strengthen our community.

The parents and caregivers of students enrolled at Fort River Elementary:

Marialuisa Di Stefano, Manuel Diaz, Rachel Hall, Liliam Fiallo, Jorge D. Vásquez, Ivon Arroyo, Tatiana Daza Merchan, Jennifer Curiale, Jason Kamilar, Karen DeMatteo, Angélica María Bernal, Sarah Gonzalez-Nahm, Maya Eddon, Margaret Sawyer, Annie Foley Ruiz, Andrew Spracklen, Cassandra Spracklen, Emily Potter-Ndiaye, Shuguang Han, Maria E Sanchez, Katie Lazdowski, Artie McCollum, Frances Lonergan, Zac Early, Trish Lagrant, Haivan Hoang, Ahmed González, Zoraia Barros, Rebecca Dingo, Jess Austin, Tim Austin, Diana Abril Navarro, Lissa Pierce Bonifaz, Molly Cooksy, Seny Salvon, Naydalia Alicea Lozada, Cedric Bobst, Ethan Tease, Kate Tease, Haydee Gonzalez, Savang Gonzalez, Sunny Sary-Gonzalez,Davi Soeun, Anthony Soeun, Carolina Hernandez, Jose Santiago, Jennifer Borgos, Christina Rowley, Karla Giuliano Sarr, Ali sarvghad, Amnerys A. Cuevas Doñé, Leurys Santiago Cuevas, Dawn Holmes, Patrick Chin-Hong, Gregory Sengle, Krisztina Filep, Graysen Garrett, LizAentte Perez-LeBoeuf, Christopher J. G. Meacham, Emily Merriman