current and potential immersion parents - watch out sneaky tactic to kick you out of bcc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think 30 kids, if that is indeed the number, is an enormous amount to add to an already crowded school. That can push population numbers to require one more bus, one more classroom.

If the advanced student population at BCC is your desire then feel free to buy or rent in our cluster.

Two things.First, Immersion students don't have a bus at BCC.

Second, the advanced student population described in the post above yours has nothing to do with BCC. It's the advanced language skills of the immersion students themselves which makes the class stronger. Place the immersion kids in any school collectively it doesn't have to be in the BCC.

With the immersion students at B-CC you have some very advanced Spanish students. Unfortunately based on school policy this means that "advanced" non-immersion Spanish students are placed in class with immersion students starting in Spanish 5 which can create a big challenge for non-immersion students. This is an administration policy, which I'm guessing could be changed, but has had an adverse impact and I know of several non-immersion students who dropped Spanish after sophomore year due to this.

[Anonymous]

Most immersion patents aren't "in BCC" to begin with so it's all moot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think 30 kids, if that is indeed the number, is an enormous amount to add to an already crowded school. That can push population numbers to require one more bus, one more classroom.

If the advanced student population at BCC is your desire then feel free to buy or rent in our cluster.

Two things.First, Immersion students don't have a bus at BCC.

Second, the advanced student population described in the post above yours has nothing to do with BCC. It's the advanced language skills of the immersion students themselves which makes the class stronger. Place the immersion kids in any school collectively it doesn't have to be in the BCC.

With the immersion students at B-CC you have some very advanced Spanish students. Unfortunately based on school policy this means that "advanced" non-immersion Spanish students are placed in class with immersion students starting in Spanish 5 which can create a big challenge for non-immersion students. This is an administration policy, which I'm guessing could be changed, but has had an adverse impact and I know of several non-immersion students who dropped Spanish after sophomore year due to this.

It also means that the immersion students are bored to tears so nobody wins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It's like wetland and BCC parents would do anything to make us feel like trespassers in THEIR community - that we should feel privileged that they let us stay, however tenuously, annually hearing fights about how we're not wanted. Everyone assumes we're just after the education that they've paid for and won't entertain the thought that we chose it for the language benefit - we're assumed to be liars and cheats of the system. It feels mean-spirited and segregationist and Elitist, as if they can't imagine that anyone wouldn't be desperately clawing for what they have over what I have. It makes me think that that isn't the community I want for my family, and compounded with the geography issue, is a reason we'll go to SSIMS.

How do immersion parents not understand the overcrowding that exists at BCC? That huge development is going on in Bethesda and Chevy Chase? If the school was underpopulated then it would not be an issue, but it is overpopulated. It's the immersion crowd that is creating the drama.

I'm a BCC parent and in no way do I think that immersion parents chose the program to get out of crappy home schools. I am sorry you view it as elitist but even with the new portables BCC is strained and then we have to allow for the automatic acceptance for people who chose to live in this cluster.

I think the deal for RCF immersion opinion is this: these kids have been in this cluster their entire school age lives. These kids don't consider themselves visitors to RCF, and then Westland, and then BCC - it is their home school cluster, period. And each year it's not a huge number of extra kids when you take out those kids who head to other programs, or who chose to attend SSIMS (and therefore won't go to B-CC), or who already live in the cluster. I realize that every spot counts when a school is tight, but I think the B-CC parents just need to accept that for these kids, they are fully part of these schools as much as your kids are.

Many Montgomery County schools house cool programs that bring in kids from outside a particular neighborhood that feeds to those schools. It's part of what makes our school system more interesting than some. And yes, not all automatically head to upper schools in the same cluster or consortium, but the concept of others being in the school is still there. I think the focus on the immersion kids to B-CC is pretty nasty, and frankly, people should move on and advocate for options that don't target a small group of kids.

I disagree that the kids in the immersion program are there because it is their home school. They are there because their parents are exploiting an outdated loop hole that enables them to latch on to a better school district through an anchor program that isn't wanted or needed by real BCC families.

[Anonymous]

I the schools weren't already overcrowded then it would be a moot point.

A person on the BCC PTA told me at the beginning of the year that the amount of COSA seats was a little over 200. I'm not saying they are all Spanish immersion students but that is enough students to require an addition to the school. There is also an enormous amount of building going on in this cluster and BCC will need to make space for students who actually live in our cluster. To further crowd an already crowded school, to satisfy a social need does not make sense.

[Anonymous]

That is how rumors start - it is less than 20 kids who go on to BCC from Westland from the graduating 8th grade class who don't live in cluster. Look at the real data! It is amazing to me that well educated BCC parents would say the Spanish immersion program is not wanted in the cluster. I hope the entire program is moved to a more welcoming cluster.