After months of public criticism, Springfield Public Schools reinstated its high school Spanish dual immersion program.
Administrators announced the news Monday, Aug. 24, at a school board work session, saying leftover funds from two state grants allowed them to rehire a high school teacher and establish a K-12 dual immersion coordinator.
The district rehired Saray Lopez Meraz, the Spanish dual language immersion teacher at Springfield High School, who was laid off at the end of last school year when the secondary program was cut. Assistant Superintendent Brian Megert said Armando Garcia, assistant principal of Guy Lee Elementary School, will take on the additional responsibility of being the K-12 dual immersion program coordinator this year.
Lopez Meraz said she was shocked and excited to be back at Springfield High School.
“I’m definitely proud of my students, the ones who came to school board meetings and spoke up,” she said. “It was definitely nerve-racking for a lot of them. I’m really really grateful for all of the people who came out during those school board meetings.”
Seniors who started in the program 12 years ago will now get to complete the final requirements to graduate from a dual-language program.
Students in dual language immersion programs learn core content, such as math and reading, in both English and their target language. For most of their elementary school years, students learn half in English and half in Spanish. In middle and high school, Springfield students have historically taken two or three classes fully in Spanish.
A gap remains in the dual immersion program for middle schoolers. For now, middle school students will take a Spanish cultural heritage course taught in Spanish rather than a full-immersion experience, according to previous information the district provided to parents.
Fresh focus on dual immersion
The district is also looking to improve the dual immersion program.
Taylor Madden, Springfield schools equity and inclusion coordinator, said he and Garcia applied this summer for the state’s Pathways to Multilingualism Grant, meant to strengthen Oregon schools’ language immersion programs. If the district receives the one-year, $50,000 grant, administrators cannot spend it on staff per the grant’s requirements. They must spend it on communication engagement efforts or curriculum materials.
“This is really timely for us,” Madden said. “We know that we have some work to do, especially around the secondary development of the program.”
Madden said several of the staff members who established the dual immersion program 12 years ago are no longer at the district, causing a loss of institutional knowledge and expertise. He said the state grant could allow district employees the chance to consult with experts and to access professional learning.
Regardless of whether Springfield gets the grant, the district also plans to form an advisory committee to include student, family and community voices when making decisions about the program. Dual language immersion parents can attend an initial meeting to learn more about the advisory committee and the upcoming school year.
It will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27, at Hamlin Middle School, 326 Centennial Blvd, Springfield. Spanish translation services and bilingual childcare will be provided.
Madden said Springfield should know by early to mid-October whether it receives the state grant.
Permanent superintendent search
Interim Superintendent Shawn Stover and board members spent the majority of the Monday meeting getting granular about board priorities for the school year, which include the hiring of a permanent superintendent.
For the superintendent search, the board will likely hire a search firm, much like it did when hiring Stover as interim superintendent in the spring. Chief Operations Officer Brett Yancey recommended that one or two designated board members work with Purchasing and Grants Manager Demian Laudati and HR Director Dustin Reese to write a request for proposals, which the district would likely post in October or November.
Stover also presented a draft of the district’s new policy on how employees interact with immigration enforcement agents. A new state law requires that all Oregon districts pass such a policy by the end of September. The district is proposing a policy written by the Oregon School Board Association that meets the law’s requirements.
The board will vote on the policy, which was included in the board packet, at its Sept. 28 work session. Stover said the district has already provided training on the policy to some staff and is working on providing training for classified staff.
Unused district land
Board member Bob Brew urged creation of an advisory committee to look into using district land to solve the shortage of affordable housing in Springfield, one of the causes of the district’s continued enrollment decline. Brew said Springfield Public Schools owns more than 125 acres of undeveloped or underdeveloped property.
“The committee would examine these properties one by one and make a recommendation for each,” Brew proposed. “Retain it, sell it, develop it, partner with someone else to develop it, exchange it, divide it or pursue another appropriate use.”
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