The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) recently highlighted Waltham Public Schools’ failure to adequately serve our English Language Learner population.

As an ELL teacher at Waltham High School, I can attest that this finding is no surprise. What did cause me dismay was the report’s omission of some of Waltham's most glaring problems. Ask high school ELL teachers where reforms should begin and you will hear this common refrain: class sizes must be reduced, both immediately and systematically.

Granted, the current issues with staffing are fairly uncharted waters for the district, especially when it comes to classes for “Students with Limited and Interrupted Formal Education” (SLIFE). Most of these students have emigrated recently from rural Central America, where social instability and working demands have impeded their education. When they matriculate into the ninth grade, some have not seen the inside of a classroom since primary school. They are often not fully literate in their own language, have no familiarity with American formal education, and know virtually no English.

When the school year started, our SLIFE history, math, science, and literacy classes had about six students. Now all of these classes are bursting at the seams with 33 to 35 students each. Such large class sizes are egregiously inappropriate for SLIFE.

Due to the gap in formal education (not at all to do with cognitive deficits) for SLIFE students, academic classes must teach skills such as raising hands, referencing a word bank, and using a desktop computer in addition to English and a given subject.

Given the adversity and profound changes they've experienced, our students also often have a high need for emotional supports and conflict resolution, so that in many classes the number of students becomes not only an academic barrier, but a real safety concern as well.

Waltham has been facing these ballooning numbers since 2013. Unlike in previous years, in fall 2015, our former ELL director’s request to hire an additional teacher was rejected. Meanwhile, the program continues to receive new students through the spring.

I have taken this problem to everyone who would listen: the DESE, the union, the principal, the superintendent, and a school board member. The DESE initially expressed shock and a desire to help, but later regretfully told me that with no state law limiting class sizes, the department could do nothing.

The Waltham teacher's union seemed barely sympathetic, despite the union's avowed goal to “focus the teacher’s time … by protecting class size.” In Boston, the teacher contract stipulates that there be “25 pupils in … ESL classes with a paraprofessional.” Teachers may file a grievance, resulting in additional compensation if the school transgresses the limits. The Waltham contract does not mention ESL, much less SLIFE, in its class size guidelines, but even if these classes fall under general “academic subjects,” we have exceeded the recommended maximum of 30 students.

Would this situation be acceptable in any other department? If there were 33 to 35 students with this level of need in another class, American parents would be outraged. Things would change quickly. No one could give me a reason for our inaction in this case.

I've been repeatedly reminded that changes are coming for future SLIFE in Waltham. Indeed, when I first heard whispers of a Newcomers Academy, I shared the community’s excitement. Unfortunately, my excitement has turned to apprehension.

Despite our valuable insight into the students’ strengths, abilities, and challenges, the current high school SLIFE teachers have never been consulted by the leadership of the committee to develop the Newcomers Academy. When that leadership was offered recently developed SLIFE curriculum and an open invitation to share future questions, neither offer was accepted. In fact, there has not been any official communication on this subject to the high school ESL department as a whole.

I worry that these early indicators do not signal truly comprehensive and collaborative change, but rather the same selective attention that has knowingly left 33 SLIFE students in inequitable learning conditions.

Without question, Waltham’s community members, teachers, and administrators all have much genuine concern and care for our students. I want to believe we can translate that concern to effective programming for SLIFE. But as I look at our present situation, at the discouragement of students and teachers, I feel no optimism about the future of this department or its ability to properly serve our students.

- Danielle Bristol is a Waltham High School teacher.