Going to the mattresses

I never get to use that phrase, 'Going to the mattresses,' so I am happy to do so now. After a 72 hour brainstorming/research period we came up with a plan of action. The strategy: raise the issue's profile to effect change. Our tactic: file official complaints and make some noise.

Today I and at least one other parent filed public complaints with the Montgomery County School system and State Superintendent, Dr. Nancy Grasmick keeping in line with our simple, truthful, standard messaging-- our kids are in a county funded Spanish immersion pre-kindergarten , they should have unfettered access to a county funded Spanish immersion Kindergarten. I emailed mine and dropped hard copies in the mail so we'll see what happens...

In the meantime, I wan to talk about something that's been bothering me almost as much as this issue. What I have learned about the school system during this process is eye opening and discouraging all at he same time. The Montgomery County schools definitely appear to be a well oiled machine. Amid grueling budget cuts that have caused teacher pay freezes, expanding class sizes and looming threats of furloughs, the system always emerges as one of the best in the state.

I use to think that the Montgomery County schools were so good because they were always on the leading edge of innovation. I thought they were a nimble organization commited to responding to population changes, educational trends and technology to continuously tweak and build upon their success and ensure

But, now that I am trudging through this, I don't feel that way at all. I feel like the Montgomery County School system's success is exactly what impedes its ability to make some common sense adjustments for the benefit of students. It's like, they have a formula that works, so why mess with it?

When I began fighting for this, I knew that we may not get results right away, but it bothers me that even after writing letters and testifying, not one person in the school system or on the board concedes that there should probably be a migration plan for kids graduating from a newly established county funded Spanish immersion preschool.

That's where I'll leave off for now. It's getting late and I can tell my husband wants me to turn off the light because of the production he just made out of putting the pillow over his head.

Lots of 'wait' to go around

Today we celebrated Andrew's 5th birthday. It was so much fun. I let Andrew decide what to serve and we compromised and settled on a menu of Ledo's pizza, corn on the cob and single serving bags of pre-sliced apples. From a parent's perspective it was blissfully easy. All I had to do was boil the corn, pack up the car and head over to the Takoma Park Community Center, where we had booked a room for the festivities.



As Andrew's friends arrived, all us CentroNia parents began chatting about the lottery-- apparently none of our children got in to any of the county's Spanish immersion programs. One parent had placed a hopeful #3 on the waitlist for Burnt Mills, but that was the closest any of us got. We were all mildly depressed about it but we're also brianstorming about what a 'plan B' might look like.



One of my friends mentioned Sacred Heart catholic school on Park Rd. I didn't know the place existed, but I googled it and emailed the admissions director to schedule a tour.

I'm down but not out. I'll keep you posted.

Montgomery County immersion = fail

Well today we got the note I was highly anticipating in the mail. It was the notification of where Andrew placed in the lotteries. We put him in the lottery for the Spanish immersion programs at Rock Creek Forest, Rolling Terrace and Burnt Mills elementary. He did not make it into a single one. Not a single one. In fact, the lowest he placed on a waitlist was #54 at Rolling Terrace.

This is devastating news, yet I must keep heart. I have 4 months to find my child a kindergarten class where he can continue his immersion education or he will no doubt lose the Spanish he has learned over the last 3 years.

Where do I begin, oh man, I wish I knew...

Testifying to the Montgomery County Board of Education

I conquered my nerves and went down to the Montgomery County Board of Education to testify in support of our petition. Here is a link. I am about 1hour and 30 minutes into the meeting. When I was finished Jerry Weast seemed like he was staring at me as if I were crazy-- but more importantly, Board member Laura Berthiaume responded saying something to the effect of-- and I am completely paraphrasing-- 'there's no way we could possibly reserve slots to our immersion elementary schools for immersion preschoolers. The elementary programs are entirely too popular and it just would not be fair to show immersion preschoolers any favoritism.' You know me, I followed up with her in an email. My written and submitted testimony is below:

Making a case for
kids in county funded Spanish immersion preschools to have direct access
to Spanish immersion elementary programs

Testimony to the Montgomery
County Board of Education

By Allyson Wilson, parent
CentroNia Early Learning Center

March 9, 2010

President O’Neill, members of the
Board of Education and Dr. Weast, good morning. My name is Allyson
Wilson; I’m a parent representing roughly 30 parents from CentroNia
early learning center in Takoma Park, MD.

CentroNia, Takoma Park is a nationally-accredited,
county funded bilingual early education program that provides full day
high-quality care to children ages 2 to 4 years old. It opened
on University blvd in 2007— as an expansion of their well established
and decades’ old program in Washington, DC’s Columbia Heights.
The center uses the Montgomery County approved creative curriculum for
instruction and most importantly it’s a cheerful, safe and loving
environment—a great place to begin a lifetime of learning.

My son Andrew has been enrolled there
since the center opened and now, 2 ½ years later, I am happy—and
honestly a little astonished to report to you that he is completely
bilingual. At home he speaks English—but at school he slips
in and out of Spanish and English as easily as if he were being raised
in a bilingual home. When he meets new friends on our neighborhood
playground—no matter if they speak English or Spanish, he can converse
and understand easily. To watch him, personally for me, it still
gives me tingles.

But lately, that joy of watching him
develop mastery of a foreign language is tempered with fear. I
am afraid that when he graduates this June he may have nowhere to go
to stay on the path he has begun. That’s because his future
as a bilingual learner in Montgomery County schools is in the hands
of a random lottery—and that fact has everything to do with why I
am here today.

I am here on behalf of our parent coalition
to respectfully ask that the board change the admissions procedures
for Montgomery County Spanish immersion elementary programs to better
accommodate children graduating from county funded Spanish immersion
preschools.

Under current admissions
guidelines, any parent wanting access to a Spanish immersion elementary
program in Montgomery County must go through the lottery. While
it is true that this puts all children in an equal position for a chance
at access, it also threatens to keep out children who have already begun
bilingual education at a county funded Spanish immersion preschool.
The coalition of parents I represent today from CentroNia would like
the board reassess the admissions policy, considering that these admission
procedures were written and instituted before the county had invested
in funding Spanish immersion preschools.

It is our argument
that children who have had 1 to 2 years of county funded early education
in a Spanish immersion program should have a pipeline to one or any
of the Montgomery County School’s Spanish immersion programs because
they are clearly already invested.

Many of these native
English speakers, like my 4 year old Andrew, have become fully bilingual,
now with graduation from preschool just months away we are wondering
if he will have an opportunity to stay on course with his bilingual
studies or be derailed because of an outdated admissions policy.

It is a fact that The Maryland State Department of Education
(MSDE) develops and implements standards and policy for education programs
from pre-kindergarten through high school. And, Maryland has emerged
as a leader in positioning early (pre kindergarten) child care as a
central component of the state’s educational services. For example, MSDE
established Judy Centers—preschool programs inside elementary schools
as a way to strengthen local public school and early childhood partnerships.

According to a report prepared by
MSDE in late 2008, there are currently Judy Center programs in 21 of
the 24 jurisdictions in Maryland—including 2 in Montgomery County.
It is also a fact that the state and county are continuing to draft
plans for the expansion of preschool and its integration with the public
schools.

Speaking for CentroNia parents, we
feel that our institution and other, publicly county funded, accredited
Spanish immersion programs should be included when educators and policy
makers look for ways to better serve students needs. In the same
way in which you ensure that children graduating immersion elementary
programs get a pipeline to Silver Spring International middle school,
our kids should get unfettered access to Spanish immersion elementary.

The state of Maryland has always blazed
trails when it comes to education. As you all know, Maryland was
one of the first States to offer a state-funded prekindergarten program.

What I am asking today, on behalf of
CentroNia parents is for the Montgomery County School board to blaze
a trail and lead the way on efforts to coordinate between early education
programs and our public schools. Please take action to help these
children who are already on a firm path of bilingual education stay
on course.

Please grant children in county funded
Spanish immersion preschool programs direct access to public school
Spanish immersion elementary programs.

Thank you for your time.

Registering for Montgomery County Schools

Today Mike completed Andrew's pre-registration for Montgomery County Schools and filled out the paperwork for the Spanish Immersion Lottery. We went ahead and requested that he attempt all 3 of Montgomery County Schools Spanish Immersion programs-- although the only one we really like is Rolling Terrace Elementary. I called Burnt Mills elementary and they told me that theire Spanish Immersion program consisted of ONE yes 1 class of Kindergartners-- that's a grand total of 19 kids. The secretary admitted that they usually get an overflow of applications from in boundary parents so it is unlikely that any out of boundary students will get in-- plus, overall Burnt Mills has lower test scores than Rolling Terrace. The other program, Rock Creek Forest is a full day Spanish immersion program. We'll take it if he gets in, but I am not a huge fan of not having ANY English. We'll see what happens.

Accepting some disapointment

Saturday, my husband went to check the mail and then returned with a look on his face that I can only describe by saying it look as though he was bracing himself for the wrath of delivering me bad news. In his hands was a 4 x 6 envelope from Washington International School. My heart jumped. After all, it wasn't a standard letter envelope containing a single sheet of paper-- that sort of mail is rejection for sure. As it turns out, Andrew was wait listed at WIS. That's not a horrible outcome-- at least they have accepted him, it seems they just don't have the space.

But I still feel as though I've lost some oxygen, the room I am in is shrinking. It's March and I have no idea where Andrew is going to continue his bilingual education. It appears I am now putting all my eggs in the Montgomery County School's lottery basket.

This wekk, I'll see if I can shake some trees there.

Application to Washington International School

Howdy readers! Snowpocalypse 2010 is upon us. As I type, Bob Ryan is on the 11pm news with his primary colors weather maps reporting that we're heading into the worst of the storm. Mike has already been outside three times shoveling accumulation off our porch and walk. I put the boys to bed around 9:30p but I am tempted to grab them and nestle them in between us when we finally retire.

Today was kinda nuts, I woke up at 5am to hit up the Safeway and get a weeks worth of rations, as instructed by all the area emergence management agencies. I thought going at 5am was a better plan than trying to go last night and I was probably right but the store was still nuts. Contrary to many reports warning that shelves were bare, I did find bread, milk and eggs... guess that means I'm making french toast!

Before everything shut down this afternoon, I was researching what to do next to take our case to the board of education when I remembered that I needed to check on the status of Andrew's application to Washington International School.

We applied there last October and have diligently been completing the numerous steps involved with the application process. We took him to get the requisite intelligence test, scheduled and attended his play visit with other kids his age at the school and asked his current school to fill out a student assesment. It feels like we're applying to college, but it also feels like it's totally worth it.

Washington International School (WIS) is amazing. Conveniently located (full sarcasm here) in Georgetown, WIS has a campus that inspires learning and growth. The school/grounds are beautiful. On the first floor, the Kindergarten rooms have ceiling to floor glass walls facing the hallway and mostly glass walls facing the outside, which offers a view of the custom built playground. Every Kindergarten room has its OWN door opening up to the playground. Each classroom has 2 teachers for roughly 12-15 students-- don't quote me on these numbers. I wasn't taking detailed notes back in October when I toured. Back then, I wasn't thinking about writing a blog chronicling this journey.

The program is similar to the one at Rolling Terrace as far as it being immersion, HOWEVER, the amazing thing is that it's an elementary International Baccalaureate curriculum. It's inquiry based and the children help generate what they want to learn about. But then when they choose what they want to learn about, what they need to learn is craftifly embedded in the subject they selected. Confused? Just check out the link. The IB people think this helps create more engaged world citizens. The curriculum blew us away. We are sincerely hoping he gets in.

WIS makes clear that after taking kids who have siblings at the school, and carefully thinking about balancing the ratio of boys and girls there may be only 3-4 slots for boys or 2-3 slots for girls, etc. Then there's the price tag. WIS Kindergarten costs $25,525 per year. Yeah, I typed that right. We can't afford the sticker price, which is why I am fighting so hard to try and get Andrew into Rolling Terrace, but we are filling out the financial aid forms and we'll see if we could get assistance if he is somehowbythegraceofgod admitted. We should know by mid-March.

Next week, I'll be folowing up with the Montgomery County Board of Education. I think it involves going and speaking during "open comments" time at a BOE meeting. I'll keep you posted... Also next week, we'll see what's up with Burnt Mills elementary's Spanish Immersion Program.