[February 12, 2011] Diversified childhood population means adaptations for FCPS Tweet Feb 11, 2011 (The Frederick News-Post - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- One in five children in the City of Frederick is Hispanic, according to 2010 census data released this week, and the county school system has had to get creative to keep up with increasing demand for its English Language Learning program over the past decade. There are 3.5 times as many Hispanic children in Frederick as there were 10 years ago -- 3,167 compared with 900. This 252 percent increase compares with just a 17 percent increase in the city's overall childhood population. Larry Steinly, supervisor of Frederick County Public Schools' English Language Learners program, said enrollment in the program has risen at varying rates over the past decade but rose especially sharply over the past year -- a 12 percent jump in students needing language assistance. "I think if you did a 10-year snapshot, it's very dramatic, very dramatic as far as the percentage of Spanish-speakers we're now servicing," he said. "About three years ago it was still increasing but it had slowed down a bit -- it could have been due to economic reasons or other reasons, it's hard to track that or predict that -- but this year we noticed that it did increase more than it had in the past year or two." Seventy-one percent of the students enrolled in ELL speak Spanish. The school system boasts a diverse Hispanic population, Steinly said, with students coming primarily from El Salvador, Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala, but also at least a dozen other countries. The other 29 percent of the ELL students speak more than 55 other languages. Burmese and French are about tied for second, and Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Russian and others are also common. Steinly said the increasing diversity of FCPS students mirrors what is taking place in surrounding counties. "We're a much smaller scale of Montgomery County, it seems -- Montgomery County showed a tremendous growth with this population in the '80s, just dramatic, and we're experiencing that" over the past decade on a smaller scale, he said. "We do have a number of students, families who do move to this area from Montgomery County, and from Loudoun County (Va.) as well, and surrounding counties as well. It almost seems to spread by word-of-mouth that Frederick County is a good place to live. It's a safe place compared to cities, and I think the word gets spread." That the student population has become more diverse has meant that the school system has had to find ways to communicate with all the parents in even more languages. Elementary school students have access to ELL instructors at their home school, either through permanent teachers assigned to that school or through itinerant teachers who travel from school to school. For older students who move to the county, FCPS buses them to centers at West Frederick Middle School and Frederick High School to consolidate resources. But the ever-expanding ELL staff is not fluent in all 50-plus languages spoken by the students and parents in Frederick County. Steinly said the school system turned to AT&T's Language Line for help. "That enables us really to have an interpreter available in the event of an emergency or at a time of great need, we would have them at just a phone call away," Steinly said. The school system isn't the only one evolving to keep up with an ever more diverse population. Maria Rubeling, executive director for membership, marketing and youth programs at the Frederick County YMCA on North Market Street, said she has noticed the population become much more diverse in the 19 years she has worked there. "If you come into our youth center in the afternoon ... it's a great group of kids, it's a good diverse mix," she said. "I've also seen a more diverse population even in our family membership." To accommodate families, Rubeling said the YMCA brings in interpreters so potential members can learn more and sign up. Though Frederick is clearly the hub of linguistic diversity, other areas in the county are seeing a diversified childhood population. Brunswick has the second-highest percentage of its under-18 population that is Hispanic in Frederick County, the Census Bureau data show -- 8 percent of the youth population, compared with 20 percent of youth being Hispanic in Frederick. In all of Frederick County, 10 percent of children are Hispanic. To see more of the Frederick News-Post or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.fredericknewspost.com. Copyright (c) 2011, The Frederick News-Post, Md. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]