Spanish Immersion on BOE agenda for Tuesday, 11/20

[Suzan Antin]

 

Dear Parents and Friends of Spanish Immersion,

 

A staff report on Spanish Immersion  is scheduled for the upcoming school board meeting on Tuesday night at 6 at the GCS office on N. Eugene St.

 

Thank you for attending the public hearing last week and for contacting board members if you could not attend.  It was important to have a large number of parents in attendance - and we did - and it was important to let the board hear what the immersion program means to us - and we did that too.  I think a great deal was accomplished in terms of educating board members on why it is important to continue the high school track to Grimsley.

 

The board expressed its concern regarding budget due to the recent election results on both the local and state levels. 

For this reason, I think it is important to realize that the board is not going to support creating an official high school magnet at this time.  Let's ask the board and the superintendent to formalize the current status quo of allowing reassignment to Grimsley for students from Aycock's immersion program who wish to continue high level Spanish studies, with no transportation being provided.

 

It is important that we contact board members and Superintendent Green quickly.  Please use your own words rather than forwarding this email - be polite, be direct:  Maintain the current reassignment status for high school Spanish Immersion students. 

 

Multiple speakers at the public hearing addressed the research that supports a long sequence of study, the importance of keeping the cohort together, and the fact that immersion students have special academic needs that cannot be met at their attendance zone schools. Others addressed Grimsley's long history with the program and the school's location, which facilitates easy access to community resources, such as Casa Azul, the Center for New North Carolinians, and UNC-G.

 

 

 

It is also important to speak during the public comment session on Tuesday night.  You will need to sign in before the meeting starts at 6 p.m.  Generally the board prefers to have multiple speakers on the same topic try to address different aspects so that a broader picture can be painted and so that the same idea is not repeated over and over.  I am willing to try to coordinate this if you can email me your main idea.

 

It would be very helpful to have another large turnout in support of speakers from the floor; generally the time allotted for speakers from the floor is one hour.

 

 

Please contact Superintendent Maurice Green at gre...@gcsnc.com and members of the school board.  My suggestion is to email the Chairman of the board of education, Mr. Alan Duncan; the Vice Chairman, Mr. Amos Quick; the At-Large representatives, Dr. Sandra Alexander and Dr. Nancy Routh; the representative for Jones and Aycock, Ms. Deena Hayes; the representative for Grimsley, Mr. Jeff Belton; and your neighborhood representative if he or she is not one of those I have previously listed.  You can find email addresses and the school assignments for all of the board members on the GCS website under District/Board of Education/Board Members, or via this link:  http://www.gcsnc.com/education/staff/staff.php?sectiondetailid=264748&

 

Please let me know if you have any questions.

 

Thank you for your support of Spanish Immersion - and best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving.

 

Sincerely,

 

Suzan Antin