Children with English as a second language have another teacher helping them succeed this year.

Lafayette County School District added a second teacher to help 35 ELL (English language learners) in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Coordinator Jeremy Stinson told the Lafayette County School Board on Monday the extra teacher will help logistics in the four schools and everyone is “very excited” about the program. Another boost to ELL is the county district received a Title 3 grant, which is given to those in highgrowth districts based on a certain percent increase in students.

“The plan is to get students acclimated to the language,” Stinson said. “Most know the language but it is about bridging the gap between home and school. We give support to close that gap.”

Currently with the 35 students in the program, three languages are represented: Spanish, Tagalog and Arabic.

Typically by the end of middle school the students pass a language test and are on to the next step, which is two years of monitoring to ensure they have a handle on English.

“We want to provide the best support we can,” Stinson said.