Build Bridges ... Save the Mandarin Immersion Program at Linden Hill Elementary!
Build Bridges ... Save the Mandarin Immersion Program at Linden Hill Elementary!
The Issue
110 Kindergarten through third-grade students at Linden Hill Elementary who participate in the Red Clay School Districts Mandarin Immersion program will be displaced next school year due to the sudden closing of the program. Parents have had no warning that the program was in jeopardy. On Friday, March 19th at 2 pm parents were informed via email that the program will be canceled.
Parents have one week to fill out a survey with minimal options for appropriate recourse; we can keep our children at Linden Hill and put them in a mainstream classroom, go back to our feeder schools, Or we can attempt to choice them into another school/program (although the choice window is closed and many schools are already full).
The program was designed to start in the early years (Kindergarten) as science has proven that children are more inclined to pick up a second language during the early stages of brain development. Students remain in the program through high school. Parents made a commitment to the program when they joined and are operating under the idea that their child's educational future is already laid out for them.
Not only will the students and their families be impacted by this decision but the teachers as well. These teachers have worked tirelessly to ensure Immersion continues during remote learning. It's important to know that these teachers want to be part of the immersion program and have been our biggest advocates. Many of them have made their own sacrifices to be part of the program and will have to make tough life-changing decisions if it closes.
Children are hurting right now, this is not the time to deliver another blow. With all that is happening in the world right now the timing of this news shows a lack of regard for the student body, teaching staff, and many of the members of the Linden Hill community as a whole. Now is not the time to cut programing for Mandarin Chinese Immersion.
Help us, help our children and sign this petition to urge Red Clay to work with parents, and teachers to figure out a way to continue this program in one form or another.
Sincerely,
Concerned Parents
www.facebook.com/groups/lindenhillimmersion
1,433
The Issue
110 Kindergarten through third-grade students at Linden Hill Elementary who participate in the Red Clay School Districts Mandarin Immersion program will be displaced next school year due to the sudden closing of the program. Parents have had no warning that the program was in jeopardy. On Friday, March 19th at 2 pm parents were informed via email that the program will be canceled.
Parents have one week to fill out a survey with minimal options for appropriate recourse; we can keep our children at Linden Hill and put them in a mainstream classroom, go back to our feeder schools, Or we can attempt to choice them into another school/program (although the choice window is closed and many schools are already full).
The program was designed to start in the early years (Kindergarten) as science has proven that children are more inclined to pick up a second language during the early stages of brain development. Students remain in the program through high school. Parents made a commitment to the program when they joined and are operating under the idea that their child's educational future is already laid out for them.
Not only will the students and their families be impacted by this decision but the teachers as well. These teachers have worked tirelessly to ensure Immersion continues during remote learning. It's important to know that these teachers want to be part of the immersion program and have been our biggest advocates. Many of them have made their own sacrifices to be part of the program and will have to make tough life-changing decisions if it closes.
Children are hurting right now, this is not the time to deliver another blow. With all that is happening in the world right now the timing of this news shows a lack of regard for the student body, teaching staff, and many of the members of the Linden Hill community as a whole. Now is not the time to cut programing for Mandarin Chinese Immersion.
Help us, help our children and sign this petition to urge Red Clay to work with parents, and teachers to figure out a way to continue this program in one form or another.
Sincerely,
Concerned Parents
www.facebook.com/groups/lindenhillimmersion
1,433
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on March 19, 2021