LEA Spotlight: Russellville SD, Arkansas
Russellville School District (RSD) is located in the Arkansas River Valley in Russellville, Arkansas. The total school population is approximately 5,200. RSD has 1,200 multilingual students, of which 800 are receiving services for English language development. Most multilingual students are from Central American countries, such as El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.
Russellville School District has a Language Academy Program for secondary students that also serves as a Newcomer Program. Students are able to receive intensive English language development within the 50 different Language Academy courses offered. This program has served as a model for other districts in Arkansas. In addition, elementary students receive supports from ESL endorsed teachers that provide supplementary services to the mainstream classroom ESL services. The ESL staff includes several certified and classified ESL teachers and aides and a Hispanic Community Liaison that works at the district’s Latino Family Center, Adelante Russellville. The ESL Department is under the direction of ESL Supervisor, Danielle Stewart.
With Title III funds, RSD was able to write a new position for a Hispanic Community Liaison and employ Marcela Estrada. Marcela spends a portion of her time running Adelante Russellville, a Latino Family Center for parents. In this center, parents can receive additional information about banking, medical, and legal resources. Adelante has a calendar of events each month, and an outreach where parents can contact RSD at any time. Adelante also hosts quarterly “Cafecitos,” where Marcela speaks with parents about different topics. This bridges the school district to the Latino community.
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