Thoughts on Japanese Immersion Program
Jeff Hammond
The following is an email I sent to the Grant Google Group to get their input and thoughts.
They are a large group and in the past there has been some very good input from their community.
Just thought I would get their take on this situation.
Feel free to provide your thoughts as well.
In addition, don’t hesitate to contact the HS Redesign staff and school board too.
Jeff
From: Jeff Hammond
Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2010 9:50 PM
To: 'gran...@googlegroups.com'
Subject: Thoughts on Japanese Immersion Program
Dear Grant community;
There has been discussion over the past year in the Franklin, Mt. Tabor and Richmond communities regarding the location of the Japanese Immersion program.
Just curious what the thoughts are from the Grant community.
Currently ALL immersion programs in the district are slated to feed to schools within their single cluster with the 1 exception of the Japanese immersion program.
To me, this seems odd and I wonder why this is the case. It seems odd that the district promotes this one exception and hasn’t looked to relocate the program to reside completely within the Grant Cluster or move the high school portion to Franklin.
Based on 2009-10 data, the majority of students in the Richmond Japanese immersion program come from the Franklin catchment area (22%) with the second largest from the Cleveland catchment (18%). There were only 10% of Richmond students from within the Grant boundary. It’s obvious immersion and focus programs tend to draw the majority of their students from their immediate neighborhoods. With this said, I believe the Japanese program should feed from Richmond to Mt. Tabor to Franklin, instead of jumping the cluster at the high school level to Grant. This would not only avoid people using the immersion program as a means to flee their neighborhood high school, but would provide opportunities for mentoring and program integration among the elementary, middle and high school immersion programs.
This desire to move the Japanese immersion program to Franklin is based on the following factors:
1. Every other immersion program within the district will feed to the high school within it’s cluster. The district has made a concerted effort to make this happen and the Japanese program should not be an exception.
2. Currently the majority of students in the Japanese program at Richmond and Mt. Tabor live within the Franklin cluster.
3. The socioeconomic imbalance across our high schools could be better balanced by bringing the Japanese program to Franklin.
(Based on 2009-10 data, the “Free & Reduced Lunch” (FRL) populations are 48% at Franklin, 22% at Grant, 26% at Cleveland and 15% at Richmond)
4. The immersion program is relatively small at the high school level (roughly 90 students) and could be relocated easier than if allowed to substantially grow prior to moving.
5. Dramatic high school changes are already underway with the closure of Marshall and by acting on this now, could minimize the potential of long drawn-out changes to our HS system.
6. Many students currently use immersion transfers as a way to leave their neighborhood schools.
Although I welcome and look forward to the opportunity to work with the Japanese immersion program, If ultimately Grant is a better fit for the program, I would urge the district to look at relocating the entire program to within the Grant Cluster.
Bottom line is that I believe the benefits of keeping an immersion program within 1 cluster not only fosters a relationship between grade levels, but also engages the community it resides in building a symbiotic relationship between the immersion program and broader community.
Let me know your thoughts.
Sincerely,
Jeff W Hammond
President - Franklin High School PTA
Parent Representative – FHS Site Council
“dedicated to serving ALL students of PPS”
Patty Urbanick
| well done Jeff ! I agree... Patty Urbanick 1330 SE 52nd Ave Portland, Or. 97215 #503 819 7710 --- On Tue, 11/2/10, Jeff Hammond <Je...@seallp.com> wrote: |