Why are there no French dual language programs at neighborhood schools?

[Anonymous]

Does Janney still have French aftercare?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid recently switched from our IB DCPS to a French immersion school near DC. There are families there from France but also francophone African countries, Haiti, etc. There is definitely a significant French-speaking population in the DC area.

If you are describing the francophone population in DC as "significant" then what word would you use to describe the hispanic/latino population?

OP, DC and other cities have spanish dual language schools because there is a large and increasing Spanish-speaking demographic in the school-aged population. Roughly half or a third of public school students in some neighborhoods. There may not be any neighborhood in DC with >1 percent francophone so it would be better as a charter or other non-boundary school. Same with Russian, German etc.

PP here. Of course, the Spanish-speaking population is much larger; I thought that went without saying. I was just commenting that there is also a not insignificant number of people who speak French in the area too. We know several families in our neighborhood, and both staff and kids at our IB school—my Ker had a couple of kids in class last year who spoke French. I have French-speaking coworkers, and also hear it spoken regularly by passersby downtown.

I agree that because there isn’t a concentration of French-speaking families anywhere in DC, the idea of instituting a French immersion school in any particular neighborhood would be tough. However, I wonder if an idea like Oyster would work. Just brainstorming here—perhaps make an up-and-coming, centrally located EOTP school a French immersion. IB families can attend by right, and let kids from all over the city test in. Seems you’d have the makings of a desirable and racially/socioeconomically diverse school.

Oyster began as an IB school. That's its history ... but then the neighborhood gentrified beyond all recognition.

If you want French immersion you need try for stokes, pay for WIS or the Lycee.

If you're ok with it as a foreign language, but not immersion, move into Shepherd's attendance zone or apply for an OOB seat.

Oyster is still an IB school. It is nearly impossible to get in OOB coming from an English speaking family. However, the vast majority of the OOB students come from Spanish speaking homes due to Woodley Park's demographics.

[Anonymous]

Not immersion, but JO Wilson has French as a special.

I think it comes down to two things: the lack of native French-speaking kids (helpful for dual immersion) and difficulty in recruiting faculty that both know how to teach and are fluent in French.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid recently switched from our IB DCPS to a French immersion school near DC. There are families there from France but also francophone African countries, Haiti, etc. There is definitely a significant French-speaking population in the DC area.

If you are describing the francophone population in DC as "significant" then what word would you use to describe the hispanic/latino population?

OP, DC and other cities have spanish dual language schools because there is a large and increasing Spanish-speaking demographic in the school-aged population. Roughly half or a third of public school students in some neighborhoods. There may not be any neighborhood in DC with >1 percent francophone so it would be better as a charter or other non-boundary school. Same with Russian, German etc.

PP here. Of course, the Spanish-speaking population is much larger; I thought that went without saying. I was just commenting that there is also a not insignificant number of people who speak French in the area too. We know several families in our neighborhood, and both staff and kids at our IB school—my Ker had a couple of kids in class last year who spoke French. I have French-speaking coworkers, and also hear it spoken regularly by passersby downtown.

I agree that because there isn’t a concentration of French-speaking families anywhere in DC, the idea of instituting a French immersion school in any particular neighborhood would be tough. However, I wonder if an idea like Oyster would work. Just brainstorming here—perhaps make an up-and-coming, centrally located EOTP school a French immersion. IB families can attend by right, and let kids from all over the city test in. Seems you’d have the makings of a desirable and racially/socioeconomically diverse school.

Oyster began as an IB school. That's its history ... but then the neighborhood gentrified beyond all recognition.

If you want French immersion you need try for stokes, pay for WIS or the Lycee.

If you're ok with it as a foreign language, but not immersion, move into Shepherd's attendance zone or apply for an OOB seat.

Oyster is still an IB school. It is nearly impossible to get in OOB coming from an English speaking family. However, the vast majority of the OOB students come from Spanish speaking homes due to Woodley Park's demographics.

Right, but if Oyster didn't try to balance its classes between native Spanish speakers and native English speakers, it would likely become a 100% IB school. In effect it's a city-wide option, accessed via lottery, for native Spanish speakers.

[Anonymous]

DCPS isn't flexible enough for this. Keep in mind DCPS immersion schools grew out of ELL needs.

A charter is a more feasible option to pursue an immersion program other than Spanish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not immersion, but JO Wilson has French as a special.

I think it comes down to two things: the lack of native French-speaking kids (helpful for dual immersion) and difficulty in recruiting faculty that both know how to teach and are fluent in French.

J.O. Wilson actually abandoned French in favor of Spanish this year. The principal said it was because there was no path forward for students after elementary school to continue studying French and the graduating fifth graders were behind in their middle school language classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid recently switched from our IB DCPS to a French immersion school near DC. There are families there from France but also francophone African countries, Haiti, etc. There is definitely a significant French-speaking population in the DC area.

If you are describing the francophone population in DC as "significant" then what word would you use to describe the hispanic/latino population?

OP, DC and other cities have spanish dual language schools because there is a large and increasing Spanish-speaking demographic in the school-aged population. Roughly half or a third of public school students in some neighborhoods. There may not be any neighborhood in DC with >1 percent francophone so it would be better as a charter or other non-boundary school. Same with Russian, German etc.

PP here. Of course, the Spanish-speaking population is much larger; I thought that went without saying. I was just commenting that there is also a not insignificant number of people who speak French in the area too. We know several families in our neighborhood, and both staff and kids at our IB school—my Ker had a couple of kids in class last year who spoke French. I have French-speaking coworkers, and also hear it spoken regularly by passersby downtown.

I agree that because there isn’t a concentration of French-speaking families anywhere in DC, the idea of instituting a French immersion school in any particular neighborhood would be tough. However, I wonder if an idea like Oyster would work. Just brainstorming here—perhaps make an up-and-coming, centrally located EOTP school a French immersion. IB families can attend by right, and let kids from all over the city test in. Seems you’d have the makings of a desirable and racially/socioeconomically diverse school.

Oyster began as an IB school. That's its history ... but then the neighborhood gentrified beyond all recognition.

If you want French immersion you need try for stokes, pay for WIS or the Lycee.

If you're ok with it as a foreign language, but not immersion, move into Shepherd's attendance zone or apply for an OOB seat.

Oyster is still an IB school. It is nearly impossible to get in OOB coming from an English speaking family. However, the vast majority of the OOB students come from Spanish speaking homes due to Woodley Park's demographics.

Right, but if Oyster didn't try to balance its classes between native Spanish speakers and native English speakers, it would likely become a 100% IB school. In effect it's a city-wide option, accessed via lottery, for native Spanish speakers.

I think we're making the same point: Oyster is a city-wide option ONLY for native Spanish speaking students. It is very much an IB school for students who come from English speaking homes.

[Anonymous]

French is actually very popular among the African population in DC. I would love also to see more language options but we are intersted in German and thats even more rare than French. There is clearly a demand for French if the Stokes waitlist is any indication.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:French is actually very popular among the African population in DC. I would love also to see more language options but we are intersted in German and thats even more rare than French. There is clearly a demand for French if the Stokes waitlist is any indication.

Maybe. There may be a demand for charters in Brookland that outperform the available DCPS schools. There may be a demand for a path to DCI. Some people do Stokes for French, but others have other reasons and French is either a bonus to them, or a neutral.

If DCPS put the French immersion school at Beers or Randle Highlands ES, would a lot of people from outside of the neighborhood send their kids there? What would they do with kids who move in and out of the area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:French is actually very popular among the African population in DC. I would love also to see more language options but we are intersted in German and thats even more rare than French. There is clearly a demand for French if the Stokes waitlist is any indication.

Maybe. There may be a demand for charters in Brookland that outperform the available DCPS schools. There may be a demand for a path to DCI. Some people do Stokes for French, but others have other reasons and French is either a bonus to them, or a neutral.

If DCPS put the French immersion school at Beers or Randle Highlands ES, would a lot of people from outside of the neighborhood send their kids there? What would they do with kids who move in and out of the area?

I think that's one of the reasons the Stokes expansion is supposed to be EOTR. I would consider if it it were not too far from the highway. If you work south of the mall it's pretty convenient.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:French is actually very popular among the African population in DC. I would love also to see more language options but we are intersted in German and thats even more rare than French. There is clearly a demand for French if the Stokes waitlist is any indication.

Maybe. There may be a demand for charters in Brookland that outperform the available DCPS schools. There may be a demand for a path to DCI. Some people do Stokes for French, but others have other reasons and French is either a bonus to them, or a neutral.

If DCPS put the French immersion school at Beers or Randle Highlands ES, would a lot of people from outside of the neighborhood send their kids there? What would they do with kids who move in and out of the area?

Exactly. People lottery mostly for Stokes, not for French. In fact, most parents who lottery for Stokes enter both the French and Spanish lotteries.

Re Beers or Randle Highlands -- no clue. But for every DCPS immersion program, there is a designated nearby by-right elementary school for children who join the feeder pattern too late to start an immersion program, or for those who simply don't want it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:French is actually very popular among the African population in DC. I would love also to see more language options but we are intersted in German and thats even more rare than French. There is clearly a demand for French if the Stokes waitlist is any indication.

Maybe. There may be a demand for charters in Brookland that outperform the available DCPS schools. There may be a demand for a path to DCI. Some people do Stokes for French, but others have other reasons and French is either a bonus to them, or a neutral.

If DCPS put the French immersion school at Beers or Randle Highlands ES, would a lot of people from outside of the neighborhood send their kids there? What would they do with kids who move in and out of the area?

Exactly. People lottery mostly for Stokes, not for French. In fact, most parents who lottery for Stokes enter both the French and Spanish lotteries.

Re Beers or Randle Highlands -- no clue. But for every DCPS immersion program, there is a designated nearby by-right elementary school for children who join the feeder pattern too late to start an immersion program, or for those who simply don't want it.

I lotteried for both Stokes programs because I'll take what I can get. But I strongly prefer French and would drive quite far for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:French is actually very popular among the African population in DC. I would love also to see more language options but we are intersted in German and thats even more rare than French. There is clearly a demand for French if the Stokes waitlist is any indication.

Maybe. There may be a demand for charters in Brookland that outperform the available DCPS schools. There may be a demand for a path to DCI. Some people do Stokes for French, but others have other reasons and French is either a bonus to them, or a neutral.

If DCPS put the French immersion school at Beers or Randle Highlands ES, would a lot of people from outside of the neighborhood send their kids there? What would they do with kids who move in and out of the area?

Is there much demand for Hebrew and look at Sela?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:French is actually very popular among the African population in DC. I would love also to see more language options but we are intersted in German and thats even more rare than French. There is clearly a demand for French if the Stokes waitlist is any indication.

Maybe. There may be a demand for charters in Brookland that outperform the available DCPS schools. There may be a demand for a path to DCI. Some people do Stokes for French, but others have other reasons and French is either a bonus to them, or a neutral.

If DCPS put the French immersion school at Beers or Randle Highlands ES, would a lot of people from outside of the neighborhood send their kids there? What would they do with kids who move in and out of the area?

Is there much demand for Hebrew and look at Sela?

It's a charter and it is EOTP. Not a DCPS neighborhood school. Apples and bananas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:French is actually very popular among the African population in DC. I would love also to see more language options but we are intersted in German and thats even more rare than French. There is clearly a demand for French if the Stokes waitlist is any indication.

Maybe. There may be a demand for charters in Brookland that outperform the available DCPS schools. There may be a demand for a path to DCI. Some people do Stokes for French, but others have other reasons and French is either a bonus to them, or a neutral.

If DCPS put the French immersion school at Beers or Randle Highlands ES, would a lot of people from outside of the neighborhood send their kids there? What would they do with kids who move in and out of the area?

Is there much demand for Hebrew and look at Sela?

There is a difference between opening a charter school and converting a DCPS school to immersion. What if your child's school informed you that they were going to start teaching in Swedish and if you didn't like it you'd either have to move, get a different placement through the school lottery, or transport your kid to a more distant school that continued to teach only in English? You might be ok with this but a lot of families would not. At Sela, everyone knew what they were getting into and has a by-right choice that isn't Hebrew.