LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) has noticed a trend when it comes to newly enrolled students. Last year, the school district said it enrolled more multilingual students than those who only speak English.
Assistant Superintendent for Multilingual Learners at JCPS Jill Handley said the data speaks to the growing number of immigrants moving and calling Louisville home.
"Kentucky in fact is one of only three states that over the last 20 years has seen an over 400% increase in multilingual learners," Handley said.
As the diversity within the Louisville Metro continues to grow, it's been reflecting in JCPS' data over the last few years.
Handley said the latest statistic doesn't comes as a surprise to the district.
One in five students within JCPS is a multilingual learner which means they help the student learn English, and they help them feel more comfortable within their classrooms. Hadley said Newcomer Academy is a pillar in this program.
Teachers at the school focus on educating middle and high school multilingual students. By the end of the last school year, JCPS enrolled just under 20,000 new students who either speak a different language or immigrated from another country.
"Our top languages though are Spanish, Kinyarwanda, Arabic, Somali, Nepali and Swahili," Handley said. "An interesting fun fact I like to tell everyone is that if our multilingual learners were a school district of their own, they'd be the fourth largest school district within the state of Kentucky. So yes it's adding beautifully, I'll quote Dr. Marty Pollio, 'It's adding to the beautiful diversity of the fabric of JCPS'."
The district said it's biggest increase is in its Hispanic population, but is also seeing more students from the Middle East and Africa. JCPS relies on partnerships with nonprofits like the Americana World Community Center to navigate this increase.
"We're kind of investing in those communities where trust and relationships are already built and Americana is a great example of that," Hadley said.
The organization hosts after school programs continuing education outside the classroom. WHAS11 asked the executive director of AWCC Emily Dyer if JCPS' data was surprising.
"It's so rewarding to see our mission come to fruition," Dyer said. "It's not quite so surprising because we've known for a long time that the demographic of our city and our country is changing."
The youth program coordinator at AWCC, Rehani Fundi, said their program focuses on building students' skills for their future.
"When parents are bringing their kids here they understand that we're only not seeing them as students but seeing their potential in the future," Fundi said. "So we're working in both aspects to really help them be capable working adults."
These multilingual learners are a growing generation of students who can become Derby City's next leaders in multiple languages.
AWCC is activity enrolling for their after school program. To register click here.
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