CINCINNATI (WXIX) – Cincinnati Public Schools held its final board meeting before the start of the new school year Monday night, where community members raised concerns about changes to English Language Learning social worker positions.
Bilingual social workers reassigned
ELL social workers primarily serve CPS’s bilingual student population, which is heavily focused on immigrant and refugee families. Many community members said they are uncomfortable with these positions being eliminated or reassigned due to budget cuts. They brought those concerns before Superintendent Murphy and the board Monday night.
“Just last Thursday we learned our schools bilingual social worker would no longer be at West High. Leaving our students with no bilingual staff who are specifically trained to support and care for them in times of crisis,” one speaker said.
Cincinnati Public Schools returns to the classroom Wednesday for the new school year with 111 fewer positions filled than the prior academic year. Twelve of those positions cut were social workers…