As you may have heard, the Sunnyvale School District (SESD) is proposing to dedicate part of an existing school to a Mandarin immersion program. Cherry Chase, Ellis, and Vargas were announced at the April 23, 2020 board meeting as finalists for location, with Cherry Chase as the most likely candidate. 

Initially the SESD announced it would make a final decision regarding location in May 2020. However, members of the Cherry Chase community were not notified about this proposal until just hours before the May 7 board meeting when a school eBlast was sent out by the PTA that encouraged parents to get informed and attend the board meeting. At the May 7 board meeting, the SESD board said they would delay their decision but did not give specifics.

The following day, on May 8, Cherry Chase Principal Marchant announced the program for the first time at virtual Friday Flag and through an email.  But after this announcement, she could not provide inquiring parents with any additional information, saying it would be available soon. 

A full TWO WEEKS passed from the time the board first indicated that Cherry Chase was the primary candidate to the time our Cherry Chase community was notified. It has now been almost 3 weeks with no additional information provided to the community from the school or district.

The SESD board should not move forward with a decision for the Mandarin immersion program until Spring 2021 for the following reasons:

-We are currently in a global pandemic and sheltering in place. People are thinking about their families and their jobs during this emergency. It would be unwise for the district to make a decision when people are not in the right mindset to consider issues outside daily survival.

-Lack of timely and detailed information from the school and the district. Summertime is now less than a month away. Since the time the district made Cherry Chase the primary candidate, the district and school have wasted almost half of our remaining school year without giving us much information.  

-Allow time for parent input and a town hall after the pandemic and shelter-in-place have passed. The district should pause discussions over the summer and restart them in the Fall. Dialogue should include multiple iterations of feedback and response from both district and community between Fall 2020 and Spring 2021.

-There are still many parents and neighbors who are still not aware of this proposed program at Cherry Chase. Also, no written letter has been mailed out to the neighborhood to inform community members who do not use electronic communications daily. The school district needs to inform families at SMS as well as the school neighborhood at large in an equitable manner.