Civil rights complaint targets English learner support in southern Del. school district

‘This is not how it’s supposed to be run’

Michaud Ngido, who has taught in the district for nearly three years and previously worked as an ESL (English as a second language) teacher in Tennessee for seven years, was surprised to find that Mariner Middle School lacked designated English learner classes.

“I assumed with time we could develop the classes and they would let me kind of pull out and teach my own classes,” she said. “But they started to pull back on that, and so we weren’t even allowed to create makeshift classes anymore for the newcomers.”

As a result, students with little to no English proficiency are placed directly into general education classes with no specialized instruction.

“​​They were just 100% all day in regular classes,” she explained. “I knew the law, that this is not how it’s supposed to be run. I didn’t feel like we were being heard and were being taken seriously.”

When she voiced her concerns to administrators, she said they dismissed them, claiming Delaware had no specific requirements for ELL instruction and that parents could not sue.

“Which is not correct. That’s not how it works,” she said. “So I just realized I have to go to the next level.”

For students caught in this system, the consequences are clear: Many fall through the cracks.

“Because they’re in regular classes, they’re hiding, they just sort of disappear,” Michaud Ngido said. “They don’t understand what’s being spoken. They sometimes can do Google Translate and translate the worksheet, but they have kind of missed the lecture or they’ve missed the presentation, or if there’s a video clip, they can’t understand that.”

She noted that grades do not always reflect a student’s true comprehension, as teachers often try to be lenient.

“If they really gave an honest, truthful grade, they’d probably all be failing every single class because they can’t read the material. They can’t write in English. They can’t understand the lectures,” she explained. “Teachers are very charitable and if you’re making an effort, then they’re going to give you a good grade and they realize your struggle. So grades are kind of a hard marker to use.”