Superintendent Dr. Tim Baird is insisting on pushing a proposal to the EUSD Board of Trustees which would force a phase-out of English only classes at Capri Elementary as part of a restructuring of the Dual Language Immersion program that exists at Capri and Paul Ecke Central.

This proposal seeks to make Capri a DLI only campus, turning it into a magnet-school for the Encintas district. If implemented, this program would be detrimental to both the Native Spanish speaking population for which this program was created, as well as well as the overall neighborhood families (Spanish and English speaking) that surround Capri Elementary.

The DLI program was originally instituted at Capri and later Paul Ecke with the specific purpose of helping facilitate Spanish Language Learners transition into English speakers. The fact that this also helped English-only speaking students become bi-literate and bilingual was merely an added bonus. The proposal of creating a DLI-only campus will hijack a program initially implemented to help native Spanish speakers into a magnet-program to benefit the English only population of Encinitas overall.

This proposal is unacceptable on two levels; first it hurts Native Spanish speakers by watering down the program with English-only speakers, then,as English only is phased out it will force a high percentage of English only speaking families in the Capri boundaries to send their children to other campuses in the district. This proposal will tear apart the fantastic community that has become Capri Elementary which is enriched by having the two programs side-by-side. We have built something special at Capri which benefits all members of our neighborhood families, and we oppose any attempt by the Superintendent or Board of Trustees to destroy what we have built.

This proposal must be dropped immediately so that the community can trust that the School Board serves the interests of the community itself.