Last Thursday, Seattle Public Schools International Education specialist Karen Kodama presented families with next steps to rolling out an international curriculum for McDonald Elementary. If funds are allocated by the district next month, the immersion component of the program will begin in Fall 2011, with incoming Kindergarten students and children entering first grade learning either Japanese or Spanish. In 2012, other components of Seattle Public Schools’ International Education curriculum will follow suit, providing students with a broad global perspective. You can learn more about the district’s International Education program by clicking here.
McDonald Elementary is one of 12 schools district-wide that will eventually adopt the International Education Curriculum, much like the current programs at John Stanford International School and Hamilton International Middle School. As of yet, it’s unclear which among three North Seattle high schools (Roosevelt, Ingraham, and Ballard) will be designated as an international school.
The McDonald Elementary PTA has put together a survey regarding the international curriculum for current and future McDonald families to complete. The survey closes on Thursday, and you can go directly to the survey by clicking here.
Our son currently goes to Adams in Ballard (grandfathered in) and he certainly won’t be fluent in Spanish when he goes to Hamilton. Our question is, will he be able to survive middle school? I know he won’t last five minutes trying to learn math in Spanish.
Can someone clarify – do they really teach courses in a foreign language at Hamilton? I looked on the site, and it doesn’t say anything about that. We love the idea that they embrace cultures, and would love for him to be in the ‘hood after elementary school.
To clarify, the “International” component at Hamilton is not the same as, say, John Stanford. For one thing, there are many different schools that feed into Hamilton that don’t do language immersion, and so the international component at Hamilton is divided into two tracks: those who come from an international elementary school will take world languages beginning in 6th grade. Those who don’t come from an international elementary school will be offered a more introductory level of world language (the only thing I’m unclear about is if it’s offered to 6th graders or only to 7th and 8th). So, the school acknowledges kids coming from all different schools, and not just the international schools.
Jacqui, Hamilton is not all-day immersion and you don’t have to have an all-day immersion program to be considered an International school. As an international school, Hamilton requires 3 years of a foreign language, and some of those are taught in the immersion style, others are taught using the traditional method.
Guess I should have hit refresh first, Margaret’s answer is better than mine. 🙂
How come no Chinese?
Thank you! Our only regret about Adams is that they don’t offer a language. Our son is taking Spanish privately, but realistically, he’s going to have basic skills at best by the time he gets to Hamilton. I’m glad he’ll have the chance to catch up. 🙂
Andrea, Mandarin will be offered in South and in West Seattle instead of Japanese which will be offered in the North end.
We’re thrilled that McDonald will be an immersion school! Just hope they really pull it off for this fall.
I’m curious about how these international schools serve their special education students. Anyone have any experience with that?
FP — They don’t, contrary to what administrators tell you. I am really upset that two schools adjacent to each other will be entirely immersion. Why wouldn’t they leave part of the school traditional, like the immersion schools in the south end? Or make them option schools, which clearly seems like what they are. This whole “send ’em to BF Day” option is crap. It doesn’t work for families and doesn’t do anything for BF Day.
Also, I am surprised parents are pushing for Chinese at McDonald, as suggested in this survey. Wasn’t part of the push by McDonald families wanting immersion was so two elementary schools would feed into Hamilton. Would HIMS be able to accommodate a 3rd language?
I agree with parent. Immersion doesn’t accommodate special needs kids. If your child has slight articulation, you are fine. Anything more than that and you will need to find another school. The speech therapist is there 1.5 days per week and if you need OT the kids are bussed to another school that can offer the service. For JSIS that would be Greenlake.
Parent-you are 100% correct about the administrators.
@ parent
>>This whole “send ‘em to BF Day” option is crap. It doesn’t work for families and doesn’t do anything for BF Day.
BF Day is very proud of the diversity of their community of students, and they are pretty supportive and inclusive of the special needs students.
The only way the diversity hurts BF Day is reputation-wise when the state school rankings based on standardized test scores come out and the helicopter parents flee their reference school to seek shelter elsewhere, exacerbating the test score problem.
On a related note, it’s not practical to put special programs at every school from a cost perspective. But I’m sure if there end up being enough special needs students in the McDonald area to drive the class size at BFD too high, they’ll add special needs at a closer school than BFD.
In the interim, you and FP’s kids are better off at BF Day where your kids will be welcomed and accepted for their differences.
@FP If I had to guess, I’d say the main reason two schools so close to each other will be immersion is it’s a concession to quiet the families who complained about being moved out of the JSIS district by the New School Assignment Plan, and sent to a school in a state of disrepair.
I think it is great they are opening another language immersion elementary school in our area! This is a wonderful opportunity for kids to be mentally challenged and learn with a global perspective.
My concern is with the decision of the international high school. I thought I heard or read somewhere that Ingraham is the leading choice. Since the international elementary schools and middle school are in Wallingford, I hope the district does not choose Ingraham and expect all the kids to bus or drive there. I thought one of the goals of the new student assignment plan is to foster a stronger sense of community and it would be counterintuitive to create an international high school outside our community.
Offering Chinese at McDonald is a non-starter.
The district won’t go for it, no matter what the parent survey says. They want a second Japanese program to feed into Hamilton and support the current program.
I don’t know what the parents who put the survey together were thinking.
As for special education kids already at McDonald, I would hope the school could find some sort of accommodation. I can’t imagine a full English track. There wouldn’t be enough kids to fill it, but I’d like perhaps to see kids who don’t want the immersion class accommodated in maybe a split class with older kids. I’m not sure if that is feasible (I’m not a current parent at McDonald), but I’d hate to see an existing community split unnecessarily.
Re: My question about special ed at international schools
Thanks for your responses. I know BF Day in Fremont is a great school and the families I know who go there are very happy with it. My son goes to TOPS, an option school in Eastlake, which is another great school for authentic diversity and a “we all belong” ethic that the school really stands by. Personally, I don’t mind driving him a little further to send him to a school that’s a better match for him.
But I know a lot of other Wallingford families don’t feel that way and would prefer to send their child to their neighborhood school — which the school district has been trying to make easier for everyone to do, including special education families.
But if what vespalove and parent said is true, and immersion schools don’t accomodate special needs kids…and the only public elementary schools in Wallingford are both immersion schools now… that kind of makes Wallingford a de facto “no special needs” zone. Maybe that sounds hyperbolic, and I certainly don’t think it was anyone’s intention to exclude students who don’t fit the mold, but here we are anyway.
How many ways can I say this? BF Day IS a freakin’ Wallingford school! They draw from west of Stone Way under the NSP, and up until last year, from west side of Wallingford Ave! I doubt that anyone thinks of Tutta Bella as NOT being in Wallingford, do they? How about the park? That’s on the west side of Wallingford Ave, were you journeying to Fremont when you went to the park?
From Wallingford Ave, (which is the heart of Wallingford, no?) BF Day and JSIS are equidistant! .7 miles to walk to either from 40th and Wallingford. It’s an easy walk over Aurora via the 41st st foot bridge.
And if you happen to work downtown, it’s even easier to take your kid to school before jumping on Aurora, and if you bus, the Bridge Way stop is right there!
And imho, BFD is far more aesthetically pleasing and in keeping with the neighborhood’s architecture than JSIS (no offense intended). Take the walk with your child to BF Day, past some of your favorite Wallingford places, and then stand in the plaza of BF Day’s main entrance, look up and tell me if you feel like it’s part of your neighborhood.
Chris,
With all due respect, I have to say that I think that Floor Pie’s perspective is valid, and I prefer that this voice does not get shut out by a yelling match regarding whether or not BF Day is actually a Wallingford school. Based on my reading, he/she said that BF Day is a Fremont school and that there are (possibly) no elementary schools with campuses in Wallingford that serve special need students. I think these points may be accurate, even though you correctly point out that some Wallingford students attend school at BF Day.
I wouldn’t say anything at all, except that I’m very interested in this conversation continuing with free expression of all viewpoints, even those that may be unpopular. I have a son who will be attending McDonald in a few years so this issue is close to my heart, but I’ve heard relatively little about the lack of services for special needs children.
By the way, I completed the parent survey a couple days ago, I was surprised to find that it included questions about the future science curriculum at McDonald — specifically, regarding whether science should be integrated across all subjects. Does anyone know if this aspect of the school’s development is being actively debated in any venue, and whether it’s possible to get more information or have input? While I think it’s important for students to be well-grounded in math/science, I don’t think that this should push out resources for the arts and humanities. I think that the prioritization of math and science education over the humanities and social sciences is a dangerous trend dominating educational thought nowadays… (And I say that as a college science professor, myself!)
I write for the local Seattle education blog, Save Seattle Schools, and I might be able to help with some questions.
According to the Transition Plan approved last night by the Board, the flow path from elementary to middle to high school is for the NE is
John Stanford & McDonald > Hamilton > Ingraham
Ingraham is going to be the international school for your area. That was probably the choice as Ingraham has room where Roosevelt has none. Ingraham is also going to have a beefed up International Baccalaureate program (IB) because of the boundary changes to Garfield (sending APP students up to Ingraham). So Ingraham is going to become an even stronger school with these additions.
Our blog has long advocated for the foreign language immersion schools to be Option schools so that everyone in the regions where the schools are located have a chance at this opportunity. That has not come to pass. That the district has now placed the second one in your area at McDonald was not entirely a surprise (they need to fill that school and fast) but it does seem somewhat unfair to the rest of the students in the region.
I would be surprised if they had different languages at McDonald than JSIS simply because it would be one more thing for Hamilton to have to take on (a third language). There is a dollar cost to a third language. But Chinese is now more popular than Japanese so it could come to pass.
Check us out for up-to-date SPS news, information and discussion.
saveseattleschools.blogspot.com
I have to agree with the opinions voiced by Floor Pie and Melissa Westbrook. There is also another drawback to an international program delivered with the immersion model that does not appear to have been mentioned.
Families that move into the neighborhood with kids already in higher grades that are not competent in the immersion language(s) at their grade level will not be able to attend their neighborhood school.
I wholeheartedly support international education and the immersion model as an option program at a neighborhood school, or as an option school similar to TOPS, Salmon Bay, or AE2.
I strongly feel that for a school to fully serve the entire neighborhood language immersion should not be the sole educational model offered in a school. There are several aspects of an immersion only school and the manner it is being implemented by the district that are counter to the district’s charge to provide an equitable public education to the community.
Drawbacks of the “immersion-only” international model for a neighborhood school:
Language immersion is not appropriate for all learning styles and kids (not just “special needs kids); Neighborhood based admission excludes many, if not most kids in Seattle from this opportunity.;Kids of families that move into a neighborhood during their children’s elementary years will not likely go to school with the peers in their community.;Kids not able to attend their neighborhood language immersion school with tutoring, or other special needs put more pressure on these services in surrounding schools that they do attend.
I am deeply disappointed that the district continues to expand international programs in this fashion. I know that these concerns were raised by numerous families in the initial discussions regarding the opening of McDonald Elementary, but they have been ignored by the district.
I am the parent of two boys: one attending Green Lake, the other will attend Kindergarten in 2012. Our son at Green Lake is right in the middle of the pack, and has struggled with reading a bit, but is catching up. Our 2012 Kindergartner has language and developmental delays. He is making great progress through a number of early intervention efforts. He is expected to enter a regular kindergarten and elementary school on an IEP (Individual Education Plan). Neither of our sons would do well in a language immersion program.
We live 1 block from McDonald Elementary. It is most likely that our 2012 kindergartner will be excluded from his neighborhood school because of the planned implementation of the language immersion model.
I don’t mean this to be a rant against language immersion. JSIS and the international programs have been very successful and positive for the district. However, there are costs and drawbacks to the model that is being implemented. It does negatively impact a portion of our community. The opportunity to attend a language immersion school is not being offered equitably to all kids in Seattle, as with other alternative programs provided by the district.
I do think that as this moves forward it is important for Wallingford to recognize that an immersion only McDonald school will not be there to serve all the kids In the ‘Hood that it could or it should.
Fair enough CTL, I wasn’t looking to drown anyone out, so sorry about that, All. And it is a shame that someone can’t go to the school closest to them if they are coming in late or are not qualified for an immersion program, or require another program not offered there. (I’m in a similar boat btw, one kid at BFDay and post NSAP, a 2011 kindergartner who has to petition out of JSIS because she won’t be ready for language immersion. However in our case it works to our advantage because we want her at BF Day to keep the sibs together…)
Anyway, my point remains though that if Wallingford is your “neighborhood” (and not just the 8 block radius around your house…) then BF Day services the area as much as JSIS. As you mention, 150 kids or so from Wallingford go to BF Day. I am pretty sure that’s about the same as JSIS unless it’s dramatically changed recently. The last stats I saw (2009) showed 57% enrollment of students in the JSIS reference area (Wallingford), and the school holds about 400.
So that’s approx 211 kids from Wallingford going to JSIS and 156 going to BFDay.
Now can it be a neighborhood school? Please? You don’t want half the kids calling the other half ex-pats at the park do you? 🙂
It is most likely that our 2012 kindergartner will be excluded from his neighborhood school because of the planned implementation of the language immersion model.
Ted, when you say this, do you mean you won’t enroll him in McDonald?
I think it is important to note that there are special education students at JSIS.
I noticed that Karen Kodama at the McDonald meeting when asked about this at the McDonald meeting clearly indicated that she thought immersion works for lots of kids including kids with special needs. Actually, she came off somewhat dismissive of the the concern, but at least it was in the inclusive sense rather than in the exclusive sense (you can always go to another school).
I assume there will also be special education students at McDonald once it opens.
I don’t want anyone reading this comment thread to get the idea that they can’t enroll their child at JSIS or McDonald.
As far as McDonald not serving your child goes, what do you think would help on this front, Ted?
Making McDonald an option school wouldn’t help for this. I assume your kid would end up at a neighboring school. It sounds like that probably matches your current expectations of where he will land. So that change, while it fixes a lot of other problems, doesn’t really impact your son.
Is it that you’d rather have the next language immersion school in another neighborhood? Doesn’t this just shift the problem onto some other kids?
Or do you have some other vision of how the program should work to accommodate your son? Would you want him to participate in language immersion with more supports or would you never want him enrolled in language immersion?
Melissa — Regarding the choice of Ingraham as the international school, the JSIS and McDonald attendance areas are inside the Roosevelt attendance area. All of these students would be going to Roosevelt anyway, so one would think they would have space. Are language immersion students going to automatically accepted into the IB program? Otherwise I don’t understand the logic of putting LI students in the same school as the IB program.
JB, you run right into an issue that does plague the district. Program placement.
For whatever reason, when JSIS was started, no one in the district really looked down the road and said, where do they go after 5th grade? Maybe it seemed far off in the future. Then they decided on Hamilton which is fine and the logical choice.
BUT you need to understand, all younger SPS parents need to understand, there are NO neighborhood high schools. We have far, far fewer high schools and whether they are in your neighborhood, they are not thought of that way by the district.
Just because your region’s high school is Roosevelt doesn’t mean Roosevelt will be able to offer all programs. When I was co-president of the RHS PTSA, we had Hamilton parents who wanted the world languages department at RHS to include instruction in the manner that their children received at JSIS. That’s not really possible (which is what the principal and staff told the parents although teachers did try to make some adjustments).
Again, the district wasn’t looking down the road (although I told this to the Board for years) to high schools for the foreign language immersion students. So Roosevelt wasn’t developed for this nor does it have the room for more separate language classes. Ingraham does and they can be set up for foreign language teaching in the manner of JSIS.
The way the IB works is this; any student, ANYONE, can take an IB class. It’s generally more rigorous than a regular ed class (and since most IB schools have fewer AP classes, IB takes the place of most honors classes).
For students who want the IB track, they start preparing for the IB track freshman and sophomore years by taking the harder courses. The real IB program doesn’t start until junior year. There is an application process for the IB track but they generally let everyone in. Finishing the IB track means taking some very difficult IB tests your senior year but it is extremely well-thought of by colleges and universities.
The new monkey wrench is that the district is now asking some APP students at Garfield (which is hugely overcrowded) to go to Ingraham on a new IB track just for them which starts in freshman year. This will be an interesting situation with many more students in IB classes.
Ingraham is becoming a much stronger school, year by year and they have a great principal.
One of the big issues is that we have gone to a less choice, more neighborhood enrollment plan. However, despite each high school having the same baseline of academics, every one of them is very different in other ways. Under the choice plan, you could apply to any high school and unless it was Roosevelt, Garfield or Ballard, pretty much get in. For high school you want your student engaged and glad to be there because of what either the programming and/or focus or activities are.
With our new plan, you are pretty much going to what high school is in your region (unless you are in a specific program like APP or foreign language). There are also option high schools like Nova and Cleveland (STEM). The Board (via staff rec) just changed the plan so that there will NOT be Open Choice seats at every high school. That was a big deal for the high school part of the NSAP that there would be Open Choice seats (basically X number of set-aside seats at each high school via lottery so every student had at least a chance to go to that school). But now, those seats will only be available at schools that have room.
So if your region’s school is Roosevelt, you’ll get in there. But, if your child has been in foreign language immersion and you still want that for them, then you’ll have to make the choice of going to Ingraham.