Exclusive: Springfield school’s shocking double standard — immigrant students can’t fail
Immigrant students are given a much easier grading scale at a school in Springfield, Ohio, effectively preventing them from failing because they are still considered English “language learners,” an email from the superintendent confirms.
A high school principal in the Northwestern Local Schools district previously sent an email to staff members at Northwestern Jr./Sr. High School, instructing them not to give so-called “English language learners” — often referred to as ELL students — a grade lower than a “C,” Superintendent Jeff Patrick confirmed in an email obtained by Blaze News.
‘It seems like a better solution might be possible.’
“The email [from the principal] did indeed state not to give our ELL students any grade under a ‘C’ based on the fact that for the first three years in an Ohio School system, ELL students are considered to be Language Learners,” Patrick wrote in the email dated October 9.
Blaze News reached out to Patrick and asked a series of questions, including whether ELL students received passing grades even if they failed to turn in assignments and/or attend class as required. Patrick did not respond.
However, Patrick did indicate in the email viewed by Blaze News that the grading policy at the school may soon be changed.
“It seems like a better solution might be possible, so I have given our Director of Instruction and his team of Administrators the task of coming up with a better solution to this grading issue,” he wrote.
The grading scale in the online version of the school handbook is not currently accessible, but prospective graduates of Northwestern Jr./Sr. High School must earn at least 21.5 credits and “demonstrate competency in math and English by passing the state’s algebra I and English II tests” or through other approved means.
As Patrick did not respond to any of Blaze News’ questions, it is unclear whether students who are U.S. citizens and native speakers of English received failing grades while their ELL counterparts could not.
U.S. News and World Report claims that Northwestern Jr./Sr. High School has a graduation rate of greater than 95%, which suggests that at least a few students have failed to graduate. The outlet cited government data for its report but did not clarify when that data was collected.
The student handbook also warns that chronically truant students and their parents or guardians may face prosecution at a local municipal court. Truancy may even affect a student’s ability to acquire a state driver’s license, even though some of the city’s 20,000 Haitian immigrants have been caught driving without a license.
Springfield, Ohio, has been in the national spotlight for more than a year after an unlicensed Haitian immigrant there crashed into a school bus, killing 11-year-old Aiden Clark.
At the presidential debate last month, former President Donald Trump also suggested that some of the Haitian immigrants in Springfield are eating pets. Democrats balked at the suggestion, but statements from Springfield residents indicate that maltreatment of wildlife is a problem in the area.
“I [saw] a group of Haitian people — there was about four of them — and all had geese in their hand,” one resident stated during a 911 call on August 26.
Anthony Harris, a 28-year-old Springfield resident, said at an August city council meeting: “They’re in the park grabbing up ducks by their neck and cutting their head off and walking off with them and eating them.”
“I don’t know how y’all can be comfortable with this.”
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