Spanish Immersion Class!

As many know, we have a new program here at Jessie Beck this year!
I've had several questions about the program so I thought it would be best to start posting the questions and answers to help clarify:

1. Why was Jessie Beck chosen to house this program?
**Jessie Beck was selected by the ESL Department due to it's central location and diverse population.

2. Will the entire school be bilingual? **No, this program will have 1 bilingual teacher in each grade at the end of 7 years. The students/parents have the "choice" of being considered to be in the class.

3. What is the Immersion Class? ** This year, we started with Kindergarten and the class consists of 12 English speaking kids, and 12 Spanish speaking kids who are ALL ZONED for Jessie Beck. All subjects are taught in 2 languages. By grade 5, these 24 students are expected to be fully bilingual and biliterate in both English and Spanish.

4. Did the Immersion Program kick out the Music Teacher? **No, the staff decided the music room would better serve our JB students as a classroom so we would be able to have more stand alone classrooms, with less students, for a couple of years. The music room conversion had NOTHING to do with the Immersion classroom.

5. Are we crowded because of all the variances for the Immersion class? **No, all of the students in the Immersion classroom are zoned for Jessie Beck so it has no effect on our enrollment numbers. We have a very small amount (under 5) of variances in the lower grades.

6. How can we enroll our kids in the program? **In May, we will be taking an interest list for the upcoming school year. Zoned families will have first priority as well as parental committment to the program. Students and parents go through an interview process and the teacher and principal determine best fit for the classroom.