Source: Wendy Wardlow's blog
I know many of you have anxiously been following the saga of whether we would have Spanish language instruction as part of our kindergarten and first grade classes. The short answer is, no, it is being postponed. Delaying program implementation is extremely disappointing to many of us who researched and developed the program model, and to families who were anticipating it would be implemented. Ironically, there is almost unanimous support for bringing second language instruction to our schools. Unfortunately, the timing was not right. With a heavy heart, at the June 11th Board Meeting I had to recommend that the program be postponed. To give you insight into my thinking, I am attaching the words I spoke at the meeting. Of course, the decision was not mine to make. That responsibility is shouldered by the Board of Trustees who determined postponing the program would give further time to answer questions raised about it.
It's important to note that although the Spanish Discovery strand has been postponed, next year we are going to launch our Spanish Exploration classes. This will be our first step to bring second language instruction to all students. For this inaugural year, we'll all be second language learners with fun, interactive curriculum. We'll be speaking, singing and dancing in Spanish! Ole!!
I certainly appreciate the many positive comments I have heard about the value of second language acquisition for young children. Second language instruction has been a district goal for many years so, with the best of intentions, Del Mar Heights School accepted the challenge to create a second language program that would be of the high caliber that we expect of all our district programs.
With an understanding of the challenge of being a school with a shared boundary, during the program’s development an important criteria was that it not negatively impact Del Mar Hills Academy or any other district schools. However, as we have seen the possible program unfold there are certainly questions about whether the implementation of Spanish Discovery will, in fact, be problematic to other schools.
Our state’s economy has also been strained during these past few months and people are justifiably questioning what the cost of starting a new program might be. While we have gone to great effort to not impact the district budget, I can’t say that it won’t. These are really valid issues and ones that we are concerned about.
When it became apparent that the Spanish Discovery program might have a negative impact on Del Mar Hills, many of us tried to work together to find a solution that would allow Del Mar Heights to begin the district second language program and be a good team player with other district schools. But for one reason or another these suggestions and plans haven’t worked.
I’ll give you an example. Last week, Annette Easton, Janet Bernard, Laurie Francis and I met for two hours and created an implementation model that seemed to work for both schools. Both Laurie and I presented the model to staff and parents over a period of several days. However the missing piece in whether this model would work was input from the staff who would be teaching the program. Using a PLC model, our teachers carefully analyzed the proposal and came to the conclusion that they would not be able to teach our standards-based curriculum and the Spanish curriculum to the level we would expect of a Del Mar school. I have great respect for our teacher’s professionalism and value the collaborative model our district uses. It shows value in word and deed for the expertise of our teaching staff, and they deserve it.
Finally, and most importantly, I want the outcome of this situation to be whatever is in the best interest of our district. If a Spanish program is causing this district to be torn apart, then my recommendation would be to delay implementation. We need time. Time to work together to find positive solutions to some of the challenging issues that may be in our future.
Lastly, I want to publicly state that the Del Mar Heights School community has the utmost respect and admiration for Del Mar Hills Academy. It is our hope that during this next year we will be able to work collaboratively with our neighbors at the Hills to explore options whereby our schools can join together in a strong partnership.
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