They just disappear’: Southern Delaware school district faces civil rights complaint over English learner support
- Why PBS
- Jun 4
- 2 min read
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For students who arrive in the United States without English proficiency, the classroom can feel like a maze — unfamiliar, overwhelming and isolating. For some students in southern Delaware, getting help with learning the language has been more difficult than it’s supposed to be.
New students, often immigrants or refugees, are expected to adapt quickly despite coming from diverse cultural backgrounds where English is not their first language. They can find themselves struggling to understand not just their coursework, but also social cues and expectations that may come more naturally to their classmates.
Research shows that placing English language learners directly into bigger classrooms without adequate support can have long-term consequences. Without specialized instruction, these students struggle to keep pace with their English-speaking peers, often falling behind in reading, writing and comprehension. A 2017 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine says English language learners require structured English development classes to bridge the learning gap, but that many school districts fail to provide such resources.
In the Cape Henlopen School District, the issue has reached a breaking point. Louise Michaud Ngido, an English language teacher at Mariner Middle School, filed a civil rights complaint against the district, alleging it fails to provide the required educational support for English learners.
“We don’t provide English language classes, English development classes for recent arrivals to the United States — students who come with very little formal English training — a class that would walk them through reading, writing, speaking and listening in English,” Michaud Ngido said. “We also don’t have a curriculum, and we don’t have a designated space in the building to have those classes.”
“That is supposed to be a requirement through the federal Office of Civil Rights through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Lau v. Nichols,” she added.
The lack of structured English learner programs contradicts federal law. In the Lau v. Nichols case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that schools receiving federal funds must provide language support for ELL students, as failing to do so violates their civil rights. This decision reinforced Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, requiring districts like Cape Henlopen to ensure ELL students have equal access to education.
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