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.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
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.
Friday, May 7, 2010
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...
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...
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
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.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
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.
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.
Friday, February 5, 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
More Email but No Good News from Montgomery County Schools
So as I detailed in my last post, we were kinda doing the back and forth with Montgomery County Schools office of Consortia Choice and Application Programs (hereafter known as MCSCC&AP). In the last email I sent, I lobbied for a change to their Immersion Programs admission process based on the argument that they had a responsibility to ensure the smooth transition of kids in county funded Spanish immersion preschools into Spanish immersion elementary programs. When I sent the last email, I cc'd all the parents and administrators at CentroNia adn also Rolf Grafwallner, Assistant State Superintendent, Early Childhood Development with the Maryland State Department of Education. I did this because I remember back when I was a reporter, I attended some meeting where he expressed an interest in making sure that early education programs in Maryland did a better job of coordinating with school systems. I thought, what better way to shine a light on this issue and possibly engage him. After that email, here is the response I got from Karen Danco in the office of MCSCC&AP today (Thursday afternoon):
Greetings Ms. Wilson,
I am delighted that you were able to attend the open house at Rolling Terrace Elementary School last week and enjoyed your visit. Our office has shared the concerns with leadership and there are no plans to explore changing the admissions process at this time. Changes to any admissions process requires the approval by the Board of Education and we have not received any indication that this is a direction they are exploring.
We recognize that the county is rich with bilingual preschool programs and your interest in continuing this experience once students enter kindergarten. With that being said, Montgomery County Public Schools supports the current admission process for immersion programs because of the broad access it provides to families interested. That is how the programs were designed. A plan for provisioning some of these seats for students with prior experience is not part of the original design of the program because many students do not have access to bilingual education in the preschool years; and it would further limit their access. In addition, the programs are designed for non-native speakers of the immersion language or students with no prior experience in the language.
Thank you for your interest and below is information about participation in the lottery for any one of the seven immersion programs. The program considerations regarding region, sibling and seats available in kindergarten can be found on this website. The forms are available online as of today and can be found at http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/admissions/immersion_news.shtm
Regards,
Karen
Okay, I must admit, I kinda bummed and a tad bit annoyed because it seems she is still saying that the Spanish immersion elementary program is not designed to accomodate a child from an immersion preschool. This is what I wrote back:
Ms. Danco:
Thank you graciously for your timely reply. I understand completely and the CentroNia coalition of parents will address the matter with the Montgomery County Board of Education.
I just want to respond to one part of your letter that I think is a mischaracterization. While the elementary school Spanish Immersion program may be designed for children with no prior experience speaking the language, Spanish Immersion program director, Georgiana Jimenez at Rolling Terrace Elementary made clear at the Open House that the Kindergarten teachers are sticking strictly to the standard Montgomery County Kindergarten curriculum. The only difference is that the instruction is in Spanish.
Therefore, it does not matter that a child from a Spanish immersion preschool has prior experience. I feel like you are implying that a child from a Spanish immersion preschool would be incompatible for the program and I think that is counterintuitive.
It makes all the difference in the world, and makes good sense, that a child with prior experience in a county funded Spanish immersion preschool be guaranteed a right to continue in a Spanish Immersion elementary program.
If the children were in a private program, I would have no argument. But they are in a county funded program and the Maryland State Department of Education has made clear that they want early education programs to coordinate more closely with county school systems.
Again, these are issues I will take up with the Board of Education.
Thanks again for your response to this issue.
Best,
Allyson Wilson
So now I think we're back to square one, except for the fat that we maybe rattled some cages and alerted the MCSCC&AP to a legitimate issue. I have to figure out who to contact at the Board of Education and focus some energy on the other two schools we are eyeing for Andrew-- Washington International School and Burnt Mills Elementary's Spanish immersion. I'll let you know what's up with that in my next edition... If you took the time to read this, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
Greetings Ms. Wilson,
I am delighted that you were able to attend the open house at Rolling Terrace Elementary School last week and enjoyed your visit. Our office has shared the concerns with leadership and there are no plans to explore changing the admissions process at this time. Changes to any admissions process requires the approval by the Board of Education and we have not received any indication that this is a direction they are exploring.
We recognize that the county is rich with bilingual preschool programs and your interest in continuing this experience once students enter kindergarten. With that being said, Montgomery County Public Schools supports the current admission process for immersion programs because of the broad access it provides to families interested. That is how the programs were designed. A plan for provisioning some of these seats for students with prior experience is not part of the original design of the program because many students do not have access to bilingual education in the preschool years; and it would further limit their access. In addition, the programs are designed for non-native speakers of the immersion language or students with no prior experience in the language.
Thank you for your interest and below is information about participation in the lottery for any one of the seven immersion programs. The program considerations regarding region, sibling and seats available in kindergarten can be found on this website. The forms are available online as of today and can be found at http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/admissions/immersion_news.shtm
Regards,
Karen
Okay, I must admit, I kinda bummed and a tad bit annoyed because it seems she is still saying that the Spanish immersion elementary program is not designed to accomodate a child from an immersion preschool. This is what I wrote back:
Ms. Danco:
Thank you graciously for your timely reply. I understand completely and the CentroNia coalition of parents will address the matter with the Montgomery County Board of Education.
I just want to respond to one part of your letter that I think is a mischaracterization. While the elementary school Spanish Immersion program may be designed for children with no prior experience speaking the language, Spanish Immersion program director, Georgiana Jimenez at Rolling Terrace Elementary made clear at the Open House that the Kindergarten teachers are sticking strictly to the standard Montgomery County Kindergarten curriculum. The only difference is that the instruction is in Spanish.
Therefore, it does not matter that a child from a Spanish immersion preschool has prior experience. I feel like you are implying that a child from a Spanish immersion preschool would be incompatible for the program and I think that is counterintuitive.
It makes all the difference in the world, and makes good sense, that a child with prior experience in a county funded Spanish immersion preschool be guaranteed a right to continue in a Spanish Immersion elementary program.
If the children were in a private program, I would have no argument. But they are in a county funded program and the Maryland State Department of Education has made clear that they want early education programs to coordinate more closely with county school systems.
Again, these are issues I will take up with the Board of Education.
Thanks again for your response to this issue.
Best,
Allyson Wilson
So now I think we're back to square one, except for the fat that we maybe rattled some cages and alerted the MCSCC&AP to a legitimate issue. I have to figure out who to contact at the Board of Education and focus some energy on the other two schools we are eyeing for Andrew-- Washington International School and Burnt Mills Elementary's Spanish immersion. I'll let you know what's up with that in my next edition... If you took the time to read this, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
The email chain with the Montgomery County School System
I am writing early today. It is quitting time and I am sticking around to post because I just got an email from the Montgomery County Schools office of Consortia choice and Application programs that I am fired up about... but before I get there, let me start from the beginning of the letter writing campaign.
A group of parents, including myself and my friend Mimi decided we would write the
Montgomery County Schools office of Consortia choice and Application programs (hereafter known as MCSCC&AP) and make our case as to why the kids from CentroNia should get guaranteed access to a County Schools Spanish immersion elementary program. In case this is teh first post you are reading I will fill you in quickly. We are arguing that since CentroNia is a county funded Spanish immersion preschool, not a private program, the children who attend there should have guaranteed access to a County Schools' Spanish Immersion program in order to ensure they aren't thrown off track with their bilingual education.
I can't tell you what other parents wrote, but below are my and Mimi's letters:
From: Allyson_Wilson
To: kathleen_l_pence@mcpsmd.org
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:45:17 -0500
Subject: Concerns about Montgomery County Schools immersion programs admissions process (CentroNia parent)
Kathleen:
Thanks for speaking with me today and Happy New Year! As I had mentioned when we spoke last year, I have some concerns about the admissions process for the elementary immersion programs, specifically as it regards children coming from Montgomery County supported CentroNia.
My child has been at CentroNia since the center opened. Consequently, he is completely fluent in Spanish. He speaks it with his friends at school and his teachers. He is graduating from the center in May and as you can imagine, we are beginning to explore elementary school opportunities for him. I understand that the process for any immersion program is a lottery but it does not seem fair, nor in the best interest of a child who is coming from a county supported immersion program to be in a position not to continue with that course of instruction.
I have spoken with many parents at CentroNia whose children are also graduating this year and we all think that since CentroNia is a county supported early learning center, the county school system should take a look at how to support these kids with a direct pipeline into an immersion elementary school.
Under the current admissions guidelines, CentroNia kids would be in viewed in the same admissions category with kids who have no foreign language skills at all and that doesn't seem fair. CentroNia kids are already on a firm path of bilingual education and should not be tossed off that course by an arbitrary admissions process to the county's immersion elementary schools.
Are there any further steps that you would suggest I/other CentroNia parents take to address this matter? We would be happy to meet with representatives from the county schools and CentroNia to see if there is anything we can do to effect change.
Best Regards,
Allyson Wilson
Here is Mimi's letter:
From: Mimi Diez
Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 12:16 PM
To: Pence, Kathleen L.
Subject: Bilingual education in Montgomery County schools
Kathleen,
I writing to express my concern about the bilingual elementary schools in Montgomery County, and thank Allyson for getting the ball rolling.
We've raised our two children to be bilingual, and were relieved to find CentroNia where our daughter could embrace her culture and language, and still get great attention and support from teachers. CentroNia has been an excellent stepping stone for our daughter's education in progressing her knowledge, vocabulary and social skills. Many studies have proven that children who learn more than one language actually have a higher level of cognition, learning, and appreciation for other diverse cultures.
Like other parents at CentroNia, we also hoped to send our daughter to a bilingual immersion public school, and since we are out of bounds, our daughter's elementary school choices are limited or dependent on a lottery system: a fact that is frustrating and disappointing.
Therefore, what I'm asking for the Public Schools to review is how it can support families that enroll in organizations/schools like CentroNia, and how to best continue their bilingual education. If its in such high demand, why not create more immersion programs in other parts of Takoma Park or Silver Spring? Why not give children from schools like CentroNia the same type of entrance as those within the boundary?
This is a group effort, and I believe that schools are only as successful as the parents and teachers/staff that support it. I would be willing to continue this discussion and brainstorm for potential solutions. I would also be willing to volunteer my time if needed to support approved outcomes.
Thanks!
Mimi Diez
This is the response we got:
Ms. Wilson and Ms. Diez,
Good Morning!
We understand your concerns that you both have raised in your emails and have shared them with our department director. Exploration of changes to any admission policy for a Montgomery County Public School program requires a process so we have shared this with our department. The foreign language immersion programs were designed for students with no prior experience when entering kindergarten and first grades. Therefore, the instruction is designed for the new learner.
Prior experience for students entering Grades 2 - 5 is required and the students must pass a language assessment before entering the program. However, the immersion model is kindergarten through Grade 8 where students with no experience enter in kindergarten and stay in the program until Grade 8.
While foreign language is very important and many families have invested in the language development outside school, it is not an elementary content area requirement in Montgomery County Pubic Schools. It can be one of three different options for graduation.
Students new to the program and are interested in participating must participate in the immersion lottery. The form is targeted to be available on-line on February 1, 2010 with a deadline of April 23, 2010. If you continue to be interested, please visit the website at www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms.
Thank you,
Karen Danco
Is it just me, or did she just tell us that because our kids were already in a Spanish immersion preschool, they weren't really qualified to go to a county Spanish immersion elementary school? Then she politely tells us our concerns have been duly noted and to please apply for the program if we'd like. So I followed up with this:
Ms. Danco:
Thanks for your reply. A few CentroNia parents attended the Rolling Terrace immersion program open house this morning and it reminded me that I needed to reply to you.
I appreciate you sharing our concerns with people in your department. I understand completely that the elementary school immersion program was designed for students with no prior experience when entering Kindergarten. When the program was designed, I'd venture to guess that Montgomery County had no county funded Spanish immersion preschools.
I was encouraged to learn today that, just like my son’s county/state funded pre-school, CentroNia, the Spanish language program at Rolling Terrace is curriculum based. The children absorb the language while being taught standard subjects in Spanish. The instruction is the best way for a "new learner" to absorb the Spanish, and if a new kindergartner were to come from a preschool with the exact same format-- that student would do well, in fact it would be just what they were accustomed to and it would keep them on track. And this is the core of our argument.
Today at the Rolling Terrace elementary open house, the program director, Georgiana Jimenez told us that when kids graduate Rolling Terrace’s immersion program they are automatically admitted to Silver Spring International School, should they choose to attend. Naturally, you would not want these students thrown off course from the 6 year investment in bilingual elementary education. What we are asking is no different. Many of the kids at CentroNia have been there since the school opened in 2007 and have been in a Spanish immersion early education (pre-k) program for 3 years. If the Montgomery County School System does not make provisions to see that kids in Montgomery County funded Spanish immersion preschools get guaranteed admission to Spanish immersion elementary programs, you are effectively throwing them off course.
In 2005, Maryland created a division of Early Childhood Development within the Maryland State Department of Education as an effort to create more quality pre-kindergarten programs and to have better coordination between early education initiatives and the state's school systems. Maryland has emerged as a leader in positioning early (pre kindergarten) child care as a central component of the state’s educational services.
That said, I think Montgomery County Schools has an opportunity to be a leader in exhibiting coordination with county/state supported early education (pre-k) programs. What better way to coordinate than to provide seamless transition of children from county funded bilingual preschools like CentroNia into the county schools' immersion elementary programs?
Considering that county/state funded CentroNia is such a new program to Takoma Park, again, only having opened in 2007, your office likely has not yet had time to examine its role or think about what becomes of the kids who graduate the Spanish immersion pre-k 4 program there each year.
I think this is as good a time as any to think about those kids. I look forward to hearing what your office thinks about this idea.
Best Regards,
Allyson Wilson
And that's where we were... until today. But I am stopping this post here for the sake of having a reasonable length and will start a fresh post to continue.
A group of parents, including myself and my friend Mimi decided we would write the
Montgomery County Schools office of Consortia choice and Application programs (hereafter known as MCSCC&AP) and make our case as to why the kids from CentroNia should get guaranteed access to a County Schools Spanish immersion elementary program. In case this is teh first post you are reading I will fill you in quickly. We are arguing that since CentroNia is a county funded Spanish immersion preschool, not a private program, the children who attend there should have guaranteed access to a County Schools' Spanish Immersion program in order to ensure they aren't thrown off track with their bilingual education.
I can't tell you what other parents wrote, but below are my and Mimi's letters:
From: Allyson_Wilson
To: kathleen_l_pence@mcpsmd.org
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:45:17 -0500
Subject: Concerns about Montgomery County Schools immersion programs admissions process (CentroNia parent)
Kathleen:
Thanks for speaking with me today and Happy New Year! As I had mentioned when we spoke last year, I have some concerns about the admissions process for the elementary immersion programs, specifically as it regards children coming from Montgomery County supported CentroNia.
My child has been at CentroNia since the center opened. Consequently, he is completely fluent in Spanish. He speaks it with his friends at school and his teachers. He is graduating from the center in May and as you can imagine, we are beginning to explore elementary school opportunities for him. I understand that the process for any immersion program is a lottery but it does not seem fair, nor in the best interest of a child who is coming from a county supported immersion program to be in a position not to continue with that course of instruction.
I have spoken with many parents at CentroNia whose children are also graduating this year and we all think that since CentroNia is a county supported early learning center, the county school system should take a look at how to support these kids with a direct pipeline into an immersion elementary school.
Under the current admissions guidelines, CentroNia kids would be in viewed in the same admissions category with kids who have no foreign language skills at all and that doesn't seem fair. CentroNia kids are already on a firm path of bilingual education and should not be tossed off that course by an arbitrary admissions process to the county's immersion elementary schools.
Are there any further steps that you would suggest I/other CentroNia parents take to address this matter? We would be happy to meet with representatives from the county schools and CentroNia to see if there is anything we can do to effect change.
Best Regards,
Allyson Wilson
Here is Mimi's letter:
From: Mimi Diez
Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 12:16 PM
To: Pence, Kathleen L.
Subject: Bilingual education in Montgomery County schools
Kathleen,
I writing to express my concern about the bilingual elementary schools in Montgomery County, and thank Allyson for getting the ball rolling.
We've raised our two children to be bilingual, and were relieved to find CentroNia where our daughter could embrace her culture and language, and still get great attention and support from teachers. CentroNia has been an excellent stepping stone for our daughter's education in progressing her knowledge, vocabulary and social skills. Many studies have proven that children who learn more than one language actually have a higher level of cognition, learning, and appreciation for other diverse cultures.
Like other parents at CentroNia, we also hoped to send our daughter to a bilingual immersion public school, and since we are out of bounds, our daughter's elementary school choices are limited or dependent on a lottery system: a fact that is frustrating and disappointing.
Therefore, what I'm asking for the Public Schools to review is how it can support families that enroll in organizations/schools like CentroNia, and how to best continue their bilingual education. If its in such high demand, why not create more immersion programs in other parts of Takoma Park or Silver Spring? Why not give children from schools like CentroNia the same type of entrance as those within the boundary?
This is a group effort, and I believe that schools are only as successful as the parents and teachers/staff that support it. I would be willing to continue this discussion and brainstorm for potential solutions. I would also be willing to volunteer my time if needed to support approved outcomes.
Thanks!
Mimi Diez
This is the response we got:
Ms. Wilson and Ms. Diez,
Good Morning!
We understand your concerns that you both have raised in your emails and have shared them with our department director. Exploration of changes to any admission policy for a Montgomery County Public School program requires a process so we have shared this with our department. The foreign language immersion programs were designed for students with no prior experience when entering kindergarten and first grades. Therefore, the instruction is designed for the new learner.
Prior experience for students entering Grades 2 - 5 is required and the students must pass a language assessment before entering the program. However, the immersion model is kindergarten through Grade 8 where students with no experience enter in kindergarten and stay in the program until Grade 8.
While foreign language is very important and many families have invested in the language development outside school, it is not an elementary content area requirement in Montgomery County Pubic Schools. It can be one of three different options for graduation.
Students new to the program and are interested in participating must participate in the immersion lottery. The form is targeted to be available on-line on February 1, 2010 with a deadline of April 23, 2010. If you continue to be interested, please visit the website at www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms
Thank you,
Karen Danco
Is it just me, or did she just tell us that because our kids were already in a Spanish immersion preschool, they weren't really qualified to go to a county Spanish immersion elementary school? Then she politely tells us our concerns have been duly noted and to please apply for the program if we'd like. So I followed up with this:
Ms. Danco:
Thanks for your reply. A few CentroNia parents attended the Rolling Terrace immersion program open house this morning and it reminded me that I needed to reply to you.
I appreciate you sharing our concerns with people in your department. I understand completely that the elementary school immersion program was designed for students with no prior experience when entering Kindergarten. When the program was designed, I'd venture to guess that Montgomery County had no county funded Spanish immersion preschools.
I was encouraged to learn today that, just like my son’s county/state funded pre-school, CentroNia, the Spanish language program at Rolling Terrace is curriculum based. The children absorb the language while being taught standard subjects in Spanish. The instruction is the best way for a "new learner" to absorb the Spanish, and if a new kindergartner were to come from a preschool with the exact same format-- that student would do well, in fact it would be just what they were accustomed to and it would keep them on track. And this is the core of our argument.
Today at the Rolling Terrace elementary open house, the program director, Georgiana Jimenez told us that when kids graduate Rolling Terrace’s immersion program they are automatically admitted to Silver Spring International School, should they choose to attend. Naturally, you would not want these students thrown off course from the 6 year investment in bilingual elementary education. What we are asking is no different. Many of the kids at CentroNia have been there since the school opened in 2007 and have been in a Spanish immersion early education (pre-k) program for 3 years. If the Montgomery County School System does not make provisions to see that kids in Montgomery County funded Spanish immersion preschools get guaranteed admission to Spanish immersion elementary programs, you are effectively throwing them off course.
In 2005, Maryland created a division of Early Childhood Development within the Maryland State Department of Education as an effort to create more quality pre-kindergarten programs and to have better coordination between early education initiatives and the state's school systems. Maryland has emerged as a leader in positioning early (pre kindergarten) child care as a central component of the state’s educational services.
That said, I think Montgomery County Schools has an opportunity to be a leader in exhibiting coordination with county/state supported early education (pre-k) programs. What better way to coordinate than to provide seamless transition of children from county funded bilingual preschools like CentroNia into the county schools' immersion elementary programs?
Considering that county/state funded CentroNia is such a new program to Takoma Park, again, only having opened in 2007, your office likely has not yet had time to examine its role or think about what becomes of the kids who graduate the Spanish immersion pre-k 4 program there each year.
I think this is as good a time as any to think about those kids. I look forward to hearing what your office thinks about this idea.
Best Regards,
Allyson Wilson
And that's where we were... until today. But I am stopping this post here for the sake of having a reasonable length and will start a fresh post to continue.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Checking out Rolling Terrace
Yikes, I missed a day of writing. I know it may not matter that much to you guys, but I owe myself an apology. I set out to provide daily updates and I am falling short of that goal… nevertheless, I am here and ready to type.
Last Friday, me and Mimi decided to check out the Spanish immersion open house at Rolling Terrace Elementary School. It was scheduled for 9:30a, so I took a half day off work and made great use of the morning by handling the morning preschool drop off. It was great for me because, since starting my new job in early January, I haven’t seen much of Andrew and Brian’s classrooms or teachers.
Brian, my youngest, was home sick with my husband, having come down with an awful cold that we later discovered was pneumonia. After dropping Andrew off, I ran to grab some sick supplies from Giant (juice, chicken soup, etc.) and delivered them back to the nest before heading over to Rolling Terrace. By the time I pulled up, it was just after 9:30a. I rushed through signing in at the front door and was directed to walk down the front corridor to the International room. As I started a quick pace down the hall, I looked up at the high vaulted ceiling and felt the weight of the big, open space on my shoulders. My steps slowed at the realization that Andrew would soon occupy a space like this. He would soon strike out from his warm, intimate setting and begin acclimating to a place for big kids, he would ultimately become a big kid too. I teared up a little.
This is a feeling that can only be felt by a parent. It is a sentiment that is a mixture of the awareness of fleeting time and the desperate love a parent has for a child.
As I approached the double doors to the International room, I was a little taken aback by the crowd. I don’t know why I was, but I was. I think it was just fear, the fear of knowing that my kid may be competing for spots with all the kids of the parents in the room.
It was pretty much standing room only, in fact a school staffer had gone to fetch additional chairs. I scanned the crowd for Mimi but she hadn’t arrived yet and I found myself anxious for her arrival so I would have a buddy among all the strangers. It was completely irrational, I realize. I made eye contact with so many friendly looking people, I could have opened my mouth and made a new friend, but I guess my nerves got the best of me.
There was a brief introduction and we broke into groups to tour the program. As we were walking out of the international room to begin our voyage through the school Mimi walked in and my anxiety faded a bit. I filled her in on what we’d done so far and we were off.
Rolling Terrace’s Spanish immersion program director Georgiana Jimemez says the school has 700 kids, roughly 1/3 or just fewer than 250 are in the immersion program. There are 3 kindergartens, each with 18-19 kids which is in line with Montgomery County School guidelines for class size. Our first stop on the tour was Senora Thompson’s kindergarten room, 19 students. We walked in to a colorful, spacious but cluttered room. The kids were orderly and quiet, sitting at various tables and desks working on writing their names. Senora Thompson was the lone instructor.. That doesn’t exactly thrill me, but all the kids were following instructions and quietly doing work. Sra. Thompson seemed to have a laid back teaching style. I asked our tour guide if Sra. Thompson has a teaching assistant and she told me that there are only “floating” para educators who move to classrooms as needed. Mimi and I both were not terribly fond of that, but again, the kids looked calm and were obviously doing what was asked of them.
Next we got to Sr. Rogers kindergarten, 19 kids—totally different energy. It seemed that Sra. Rogers bright purple sweater was a manifestation of her energy. She had her kids gathered in a circle on a rug in the front of the classroom and was going over the consonants (consonate) and vowels (vocales.) She had the children fully engaged, excitedly encouraging them, one by one, to retrieve a letter from the rug and ask their fellow classmates (in Spanish) if were a consonate or a vocales. When the magnetic letters were all selected, they placed them on a whiteboard and arranged them to spell a word, with Sra. Rogers joyfully praising their efforts. Then, for the icing on the cake, Sra. Rogers played a song that contained the word they just spelled and all the children were singing and dancing. Mimi and I exchanged a “hell yeah!” look and resolved that Andrew and Alicia WOULD have Sra. Rogers if we had to part the red sea to get them there.
All of the parents were riveted, but our tour guide scurried us along to a 1st grade immersion math and science room where Sra. Medina had kids learning about scientific observations. Each of the kids had regular plastic drinking straws to attempt to blow objects across the table. Each group of kids had a basket with things like string, cotton balls, cork, ping pong balls, plastic forks, etc. Ms. Medina told them the instructions in Spanish and handed out composition notebooks and the kids blew objects and then WROTE DOWN THEIR OBSERVATIONS IN SPANISH!!! We were blown away.
We worked our way to a 1st grade English class, where the immersion kids were doing their English work but I didn’t pay too much attention in there because I was busy asking questions of our tour guide in the hallway. Between that time and the q&a time back in the International room, I learned, in great detail, how the lottery works.
Rolling Terrace Spanish Immersion has roughly 57 kindergarten slots. Of those, the lottery computer first pulls the names of all kids who live in the Rolling Terrace boundary who have applied for the special program. Then the lottery computer automatically pulls the names of all kids who have a sibling at the school. Finally, the lottery computer would then randomly select as many names as are remaining slots. *sigh*
I looked around the room at the standing room crowd and felt hope slipping away. This seems like a pretty good school, it’s nestled in a quaint Takoma Park neighborhood. It would be a comfortable fit, but unless I move into the Rolling Terrace boundary before May, Andrew may not be able to go.
I’ve started the lottery registration process and of course there are some other irons in the fire. Plus, as I mentioned, me and Mimi wrote letters to the school system about CentroNia and the immersion curriculum and the possibility of changing admissions guidelines. I will update you on that tomorrow. But now, again, it is time for bed, G’nite!
Last Friday, me and Mimi decided to check out the Spanish immersion open house at Rolling Terrace Elementary School. It was scheduled for 9:30a, so I took a half day off work and made great use of the morning by handling the morning preschool drop off. It was great for me because, since starting my new job in early January, I haven’t seen much of Andrew and Brian’s classrooms or teachers.
Brian, my youngest, was home sick with my husband, having come down with an awful cold that we later discovered was pneumonia. After dropping Andrew off, I ran to grab some sick supplies from Giant (juice, chicken soup, etc.) and delivered them back to the nest before heading over to Rolling Terrace. By the time I pulled up, it was just after 9:30a. I rushed through signing in at the front door and was directed to walk down the front corridor to the International room. As I started a quick pace down the hall, I looked up at the high vaulted ceiling and felt the weight of the big, open space on my shoulders. My steps slowed at the realization that Andrew would soon occupy a space like this. He would soon strike out from his warm, intimate setting and begin acclimating to a place for big kids, he would ultimately become a big kid too. I teared up a little.
This is a feeling that can only be felt by a parent. It is a sentiment that is a mixture of the awareness of fleeting time and the desperate love a parent has for a child.
As I approached the double doors to the International room, I was a little taken aback by the crowd. I don’t know why I was, but I was. I think it was just fear, the fear of knowing that my kid may be competing for spots with all the kids of the parents in the room.
It was pretty much standing room only, in fact a school staffer had gone to fetch additional chairs. I scanned the crowd for Mimi but she hadn’t arrived yet and I found myself anxious for her arrival so I would have a buddy among all the strangers. It was completely irrational, I realize. I made eye contact with so many friendly looking people, I could have opened my mouth and made a new friend, but I guess my nerves got the best of me.
There was a brief introduction and we broke into groups to tour the program. As we were walking out of the international room to begin our voyage through the school Mimi walked in and my anxiety faded a bit. I filled her in on what we’d done so far and we were off.
Rolling Terrace’s Spanish immersion program director Georgiana Jimemez says the school has 700 kids, roughly 1/3 or just fewer than 250 are in the immersion program. There are 3 kindergartens, each with 18-19 kids which is in line with Montgomery County School guidelines for class size. Our first stop on the tour was Senora Thompson’s kindergarten room, 19 students. We walked in to a colorful, spacious but cluttered room. The kids were orderly and quiet, sitting at various tables and desks working on writing their names. Senora Thompson was the lone instructor.. That doesn’t exactly thrill me, but all the kids were following instructions and quietly doing work. Sra. Thompson seemed to have a laid back teaching style. I asked our tour guide if Sra. Thompson has a teaching assistant and she told me that there are only “floating” para educators who move to classrooms as needed. Mimi and I both were not terribly fond of that, but again, the kids looked calm and were obviously doing what was asked of them.
Next we got to Sr. Rogers kindergarten, 19 kids—totally different energy. It seemed that Sra. Rogers bright purple sweater was a manifestation of her energy. She had her kids gathered in a circle on a rug in the front of the classroom and was going over the consonants (consonate) and vowels (vocales.) She had the children fully engaged, excitedly encouraging them, one by one, to retrieve a letter from the rug and ask their fellow classmates (in Spanish) if were a consonate or a vocales. When the magnetic letters were all selected, they placed them on a whiteboard and arranged them to spell a word, with Sra. Rogers joyfully praising their efforts. Then, for the icing on the cake, Sra. Rogers played a song that contained the word they just spelled and all the children were singing and dancing. Mimi and I exchanged a “hell yeah!” look and resolved that Andrew and Alicia WOULD have Sra. Rogers if we had to part the red sea to get them there.
All of the parents were riveted, but our tour guide scurried us along to a 1st grade immersion math and science room where Sra. Medina had kids learning about scientific observations. Each of the kids had regular plastic drinking straws to attempt to blow objects across the table. Each group of kids had a basket with things like string, cotton balls, cork, ping pong balls, plastic forks, etc. Ms. Medina told them the instructions in Spanish and handed out composition notebooks and the kids blew objects and then WROTE DOWN THEIR OBSERVATIONS IN SPANISH!!! We were blown away.
We worked our way to a 1st grade English class, where the immersion kids were doing their English work but I didn’t pay too much attention in there because I was busy asking questions of our tour guide in the hallway. Between that time and the q&a time back in the International room, I learned, in great detail, how the lottery works.
Rolling Terrace Spanish Immersion has roughly 57 kindergarten slots. Of those, the lottery computer first pulls the names of all kids who live in the Rolling Terrace boundary who have applied for the special program. Then the lottery computer automatically pulls the names of all kids who have a sibling at the school. Finally, the lottery computer would then randomly select as many names as are remaining slots. *sigh*
I looked around the room at the standing room crowd and felt hope slipping away. This seems like a pretty good school, it’s nestled in a quaint Takoma Park neighborhood. It would be a comfortable fit, but unless I move into the Rolling Terrace boundary before May, Andrew may not be able to go.
I’ve started the lottery registration process and of course there are some other irons in the fire. Plus, as I mentioned, me and Mimi wrote letters to the school system about CentroNia and the immersion curriculum and the possibility of changing admissions guidelines. I will update you on that tomorrow. But now, again, it is time for bed, G’nite!
Waging a battle for the right to bilingual elementary school
Over the past few months, Andrew has been talking A LOT about Kindergarten. One week he is scared because he watched a tv show on some kids channel that informed him that going to kindergarten means “going away from your mommy and daddy.” The next week all he can talk about is how he can’t wait to get to kindergarten because it means he’ll be a big boy. It’s like he is keenly aware that kindergarten is a milestone and a big step. And as scared as I am about him leaving his cozy preschool, I know he is ready to spread his wings. I see it in the way his big brown eyes intently study puzzles in a Highlights magazine. I hear it in his inquisitive, non-stop and surprisingly logical and endless questioning about every subject under the sun. I see it in the way he enjoys trying to “read” books to his little brother—which really just entails him describing the picture in the book—but hey it’s a start. He is spreading his wings into this amazing butterfly and I feel like I can’t let him down.
That’s why this quest for securing a slot at a bilingual immersion elementary school has increasingly become an all encompassing obsession. A few weeks ago, me and another mom, (my friend Mimi) had the chance to chat during a drop off or pick up. We were both wondering what the other’s plans were for elementary school. Besides the fact that Mimi and I are friends, we thought it would be nice if we could look forward to the idea of our kids staying together. Mimi’s daughter Alicia and Andrew have been classmates since the age of 2. They’re in the same pre-k room at CentroNia, and whether loving one another or fighting, they’re like peanut butter and jelly– they go well together.
Alicia is a blond, blue eyed, feisty, ½ Cuban bundle of quick witted energy. I remember a few weeks ago, before I started my new job, I rolled out of bed and threw on any old pair of jeans and a sweatshirt to take the boys to school. I had washed my hair the night before and let it dry naturally, so it had dehydrated into an unruly wavy poof. It looked like I had an
unfortunate meeting with electricity. I dropped Andrew in his classroom and as I was signing him in, Alicia runs over to me looking like she could not believe what she was witnessing and said, “what happened to you hair?” and before I could answer she followed with, “You need to go do something to it.” Amused, I chuckled and casually conceded the point, “yeah, I know I do.” These kids, they’re way too much for me.
Anyway, Mimi and I, upon chatting, discovered that we were both frustrated with the way Montgomery County handles the admissions process to the Spanish immersion schools because the process does not recognize and grant any special consideration to kids coming from CentroNia. Before you ask the inevitable question, “why should they?” Let me explain:
CentroNia moved into the county in 2007 as an established program with decades old roots in Washington, DC. It is entirely county funded. CentroNia founder Bebe Ortiz told the Washington Post that all of Centronia’s grants come for Montgomery County. If Montgomery County is going to recognize and fund this pre-k program, accredited by the Maryland State Department of Education, teaching the County preferred Creative Curriculum in a Spanish immersion format—the County school system should make provisions for the graduating kids to continue in any of the county’s Spanish immersion elementary programs. But currently, that’s not how it works.
Under current admissions guidelines, any parent wanting access to a Spanish immersion elementary program in Montgomery County must go through the lottery. So Mimi and I (and all the other CentroNia parents) who have invested years already in bilingual education and have bilingual preschoolers have to wait with our metaphorical breaths held to see if a computer selects our kids to go to a Spanish immersion elementary school to hold onto the language they have already begun to learn—competing with kids whose parents have nothing invested yet.
The more Mimi and I talked about it, the more we were compelled to act, so we wrote letters to the Montgomery County Schools office of Consortia Choice and Immersion Programs. And the answer we got was not encouraging… what was the answer? I am sorry dear blog reader but you have to wait until tomorrow. I have to be at work super early and I need to get some sleep. But to give you a preview, we lost the battle, but we have yet to cede the war!
That’s why this quest for securing a slot at a bilingual immersion elementary school has increasingly become an all encompassing obsession. A few weeks ago, me and another mom, (my friend Mimi) had the chance to chat during a drop off or pick up. We were both wondering what the other’s plans were for elementary school. Besides the fact that Mimi and I are friends, we thought it would be nice if we could look forward to the idea of our kids staying together. Mimi’s daughter Alicia and Andrew have been classmates since the age of 2. They’re in the same pre-k room at CentroNia, and whether loving one another or fighting, they’re like peanut butter and jelly– they go well together.
Alicia is a blond, blue eyed, feisty, ½ Cuban bundle of quick witted energy. I remember a few weeks ago, before I started my new job, I rolled out of bed and threw on any old pair of jeans and a sweatshirt to take the boys to school. I had washed my hair the night before and let it dry naturally, so it had dehydrated into an unruly wavy poof. It looked like I had an
unfortunate meeting with electricity. I dropped Andrew in his classroom and as I was signing him in, Alicia runs over to me looking like she could not believe what she was witnessing and said, “what happened to you hair?” and before I could answer she followed with, “You need to go do something to it.” Amused, I chuckled and casually conceded the point, “yeah, I know I do.” These kids, they’re way too much for me.Anyway, Mimi and I, upon chatting, discovered that we were both frustrated with the way Montgomery County handles the admissions process to the Spanish immersion schools because the process does not recognize and grant any special consideration to kids coming from CentroNia. Before you ask the inevitable question, “why should they?” Let me explain:
CentroNia moved into the county in 2007 as an established program with decades old roots in Washington, DC. It is entirely county funded. CentroNia founder Bebe Ortiz told the Washington Post that all of Centronia’s grants come for Montgomery County. If Montgomery County is going to recognize and fund this pre-k program, accredited by the Maryland State Department of Education, teaching the County preferred Creative Curriculum in a Spanish immersion format—the County school system should make provisions for the graduating kids to continue in any of the county’s Spanish immersion elementary programs. But currently, that’s not how it works.
Under current admissions guidelines, any parent wanting access to a Spanish immersion elementary program in Montgomery County must go through the lottery. So Mimi and I (and all the other CentroNia parents) who have invested years already in bilingual education and have bilingual preschoolers have to wait with our metaphorical breaths held to see if a computer selects our kids to go to a Spanish immersion elementary school to hold onto the language they have already begun to learn—competing with kids whose parents have nothing invested yet.
The more Mimi and I talked about it, the more we were compelled to act, so we wrote letters to the Montgomery County Schools office of Consortia Choice and Immersion Programs. And the answer we got was not encouraging… what was the answer? I am sorry dear blog reader but you have to wait until tomorrow. I have to be at work super early and I need to get some sleep. But to give you a preview, we lost the battle, but we have yet to cede the war!
Why We Picked Immersion Preschool
Okay here we go. I guess I should start this story at the beginning, as in—why did we put our first born son in a Spanish immersion preschool to begin with? The answer is simple; because it seemed like the smartest thing we could do as parents. On the surface, just look around; you’d have to be living in a cave in Iceland somewhere not to see that the world is changing. With every new technological advance the world gets smaller.
Our region alone is a vibrant melting pot of cultures and languages and we can’t afford to ignore that reality at the expense of our kids and their potential. My husband and I talked about it and we both felt strongly, personally, that both our kids should have an opportunity to be at least bilingual. My husband, Mike, played for the Harlem Globetrotters for 10 years before retiring in 2006. During his time as a “world famous” Globetrottin’ baller, he travelled to more than 65 countries. He’s been everywhere—from entertaining Arabic speaking kids in an orphanage in Dubai, to being blessed by Pope John Paul II in Italian. There’ve been many times he’s had or needed a translator.
Then there’s me—while not at all famous, I worked for 10 years as a reporter at TV stations in across the Southeast. As a hungry journalist, I can’t begin to tell you how much it hurt when something awful happened in a neighborhood where hardly anyone spoke English. I can’t get the story if I can’t understand what witnesses and others are saying. And as you can imagine, it happened more than a few times during the 3 years I was at WTTG here in DC. I despised and regretted feeling handicapped by a language barrier. In those instances I’d always beat myself up for not paying more attention in Spanish class.
Then there’s the research. Studies show that learning a foreign language early can rewire a child’s brain and make them better learners and more intellectual. According to Center for Applied Linguistics, “in addition to developing a lifelong ability to communicate with more people, children may derive other benefits from early language instruction, including improved overall school performance and superior problem-solving skills.” Research also shows that when they are exposed to language early, they’re like sponges, they just soak it up. With all this in mind, we said let’s do it and we set out to find a preschool. Let me tell you, in DC that’s no small task. Bilingual education and immersion programs are in HIGH demand. We found 2 year wait lists at most places we checked out, including CentroNia in Columbia Heights.
I won’t say I had given up, but I honestly felt that I had exhausted my options and I was depressed about it. I wasn’t worried about Andrew, he was at an AMAZING early learning center in downtown Silver Spring where the owner/director, Richard Crump, had made sure the early learning curriculum was one year AHEAD of where Montgomery County public schools said students should be. The kids at Quality Time Early Learning Center were reading at age 4. It was amazing. But I yearned for more for my Andrew. I have a vision for him– not that I am nor will ever push him toward anything, but I want him to always have the tools to help him determine what his higher good is and the abilities to achieve it.
I was comfortable in the knowledge I was doing the best I could do with planning for his education but still disapointed and then it happened. I was driving down University Blvd through Langley Park, MD and what did I see? A bright shiny sign that read “CentroNia!” I had never seen it before and I drove that route all the time. The next morning, I called CentroNia in Columbia Heights and asked what the sign was about and they replied, “that’s our new school, we’re expanding into Montgomery County.” I asked if there were still openings and they directed me to call CentroNia Montgomery County directly. Guess what guys? Andrew got one of the last TWO slots left at the Montgomery County center for his age group (2 year olds.) I felt like God had answered a prayer. The center is amazing. When you walk into the bright, cheerful space every morning, you’re greeted by wonderful, caring staff and imaginative, colorful art, pictures and drawings surround you, real illustrations of the joy, love and creativity within the school’s walls. Over the course of Andrew’s 2.5 years at CentroNia he has become bilingual. It’s a fact I can hardly believe myself. But the first time I saw him have a conversation with one of his teachers the skin on my arms tingled. He is learning something that can’t come from me; he can naturally understand another language. My baby? Yes, my baby! I am thrilled and encouraged and determined to keep him on this course.
Last year we began wondering where he could go to continue on a bilingual educational path. Here’s what we came up with as a tentative exploratory elementary school plan:
» Washington International School—private foreign language immersion school in Georgetown
» Rolling Terrace Elementary School—Montgomery County public Spanish immersion program within the school, admission by lottery only
» Burnt Mills Elementary— Montgomery County public Spanish immersion program within the school, admission by lottery only.
That’s it. That seemed to be the exhaustion of our options considering where we live and where we may move—which is only going to be somewhere in Montgomery County. So here we are. What will happen, we’ll see. I have lots more to tell you, but this seems like a good place to stop tonight. But please do swing back through tomorrow. I’ll tell you about my letter to the Montgomery County school system about the admissions requirements for the immersion elementary school programs and what the application process is like at WIS. These are exciting times for this Montgomery County mommy of a preschooler!
Our region alone is a vibrant melting pot of cultures and languages and we can’t afford to ignore that reality at the expense of our kids and their potential. My husband and I talked about it and we both felt strongly, personally, that both our kids should have an opportunity to be at least bilingual. My husband, Mike, played for the Harlem Globetrotters for 10 years before retiring in 2006. During his time as a “world famous” Globetrottin’ baller, he travelled to more than 65 countries. He’s been everywhere—from entertaining Arabic speaking kids in an orphanage in Dubai, to being blessed by Pope John Paul II in Italian. There’ve been many times he’s had or needed a translator.
Then there’s me—while not at all famous, I worked for 10 years as a reporter at TV stations in across the Southeast. As a hungry journalist, I can’t begin to tell you how much it hurt when something awful happened in a neighborhood where hardly anyone spoke English. I can’t get the story if I can’t understand what witnesses and others are saying. And as you can imagine, it happened more than a few times during the 3 years I was at WTTG here in DC. I despised and regretted feeling handicapped by a language barrier. In those instances I’d always beat myself up for not paying more attention in Spanish class.
Then there’s the research. Studies show that learning a foreign language early can rewire a child’s brain and make them better learners and more intellectual. According to Center for Applied Linguistics, “in addition to developing a lifelong ability to communicate with more people, children may derive other benefits from early language instruction, including improved overall school performance and superior problem-solving skills.” Research also shows that when they are exposed to language early, they’re like sponges, they just soak it up. With all this in mind, we said let’s do it and we set out to find a preschool. Let me tell you, in DC that’s no small task. Bilingual education and immersion programs are in HIGH demand. We found 2 year wait lists at most places we checked out, including CentroNia in Columbia Heights.
I won’t say I had given up, but I honestly felt that I had exhausted my options and I was depressed about it. I wasn’t worried about Andrew, he was at an AMAZING early learning center in downtown Silver Spring where the owner/director, Richard Crump, had made sure the early learning curriculum was one year AHEAD of where Montgomery County public schools said students should be. The kids at Quality Time Early Learning Center were reading at age 4. It was amazing. But I yearned for more for my Andrew. I have a vision for him– not that I am nor will ever push him toward anything, but I want him to always have the tools to help him determine what his higher good is and the abilities to achieve it.
I was comfortable in the knowledge I was doing the best I could do with planning for his education but still disapointed and then it happened. I was driving down University Blvd through Langley Park, MD and what did I see? A bright shiny sign that read “CentroNia!” I had never seen it before and I drove that route all the time. The next morning, I called CentroNia in Columbia Heights and asked what the sign was about and they replied, “that’s our new school, we’re expanding into Montgomery County.” I asked if there were still openings and they directed me to call CentroNia Montgomery County directly. Guess what guys? Andrew got one of the last TWO slots left at the Montgomery County center for his age group (2 year olds.) I felt like God had answered a prayer. The center is amazing. When you walk into the bright, cheerful space every morning, you’re greeted by wonderful, caring staff and imaginative, colorful art, pictures and drawings surround you, real illustrations of the joy, love and creativity within the school’s walls. Over the course of Andrew’s 2.5 years at CentroNia he has become bilingual. It’s a fact I can hardly believe myself. But the first time I saw him have a conversation with one of his teachers the skin on my arms tingled. He is learning something that can’t come from me; he can naturally understand another language. My baby? Yes, my baby! I am thrilled and encouraged and determined to keep him on this course.
Last year we began wondering where he could go to continue on a bilingual educational path. Here’s what we came up with as a tentative exploratory elementary school plan:
» Washington International School—private foreign language immersion school in Georgetown
» Rolling Terrace Elementary School—Montgomery County public Spanish immersion program within the school, admission by lottery only
» Burnt Mills Elementary— Montgomery County public Spanish immersion program within the school, admission by lottery only.
That’s it. That seemed to be the exhaustion of our options considering where we live and where we may move—which is only going to be somewhere in Montgomery County. So here we are. What will happen, we’ll see. I have lots more to tell you, but this seems like a good place to stop tonight. But please do swing back through tomorrow. I’ll tell you about my letter to the Montgomery County school system about the admissions requirements for the immersion elementary school programs and what the application process is like at WIS. These are exciting times for this Montgomery County mommy of a preschooler!
Hello World!
If you are taking the time to read this, THANK YOU! I decided to start a blog to give myself an outlet during this challenge I'm facing trying to keep my son on a path of bilingual education in Montgomery County. Andrew has been in bilingual preschool for nearly 3 years and is fluent in Spanish. He graduates from county funded CentroNia in Takoma Park in June and we have NO IDEA where he is going to school next year. We're trying to figure it out now, but surprisingly, it ain't easy! Montgomery county has elementary school immersion programs but admission is decided by lottery. Then there is Washington International School, which is more than $20000 a year. At times we fear it seems like our Andrew may be forced to abandon his bilingual course of study. But I am one parent who's not going down without a fight! Wheteher it be one of the roughly 12 slots at WIS or in a county program I am going to crusade for his education and if you like what you're reading, you can go along for the voyage too!
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