Reply to Changes to French Immersion at Kent Gardens?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why is it that the parents whose kids are not in the specialized programs are in favor of closing down anything that isn’t Gen Ed? LI and AAP and the few magnet schools have a place in education. They provide options and services for kids that are beneficial. Every parent has the option of applying for LI even if the majority choose not to apply.

If a LI school is full; change the lottery so that it only includes kids in the boundary.

The LI program at our school starts with a lot more kids in the LI program and ends up with pretty even size classes by 6th grade. The Gen Ed classes are smaller then LI for 4-5 years. I would guess that there are schools where LI classes are smaller then Gen Ed but that has not been our experience.

[b]But the attitude that no one gets anything special because the kids in Gen Ed feel left out is pretty pervasive on this board and I don’t understand it. [[/b]/quote]

Your assumption is incorrect.  There are lots of reasons people oppose it.

1.I've taught where kids were bussed in from another community.  It is not unifying.
2. Plenty of "special" instruction can be offered in the neighborhood schools.
3. It is less expensive and allows more funds to be spent on instruction.
4. Special programs create uneven class sizes in schools.  For example: AAP centers.  Sometimes the gened classes are larger and sometimes the AAP classes are larger.  In some cases, in some schools, the difference is extreme.

[/quote]

This.  I'm a teacher who agrees with all of the points above.  I'm not anti-immersion, but I dislike that the neighborhood school my own kids attend isn't unified.  The first question you get when you meet people at the neighborhood pool is "immersion or non-immersion."  It's not said in a mean way, but it ends up dividing people.  If you kid is immersion and the other kid isn't, they will never be in the same class. Our school is not overcrowded, but it is HUGE...an 800/900 kid elementary school just doesn't give off a community vibe. It would be more like 600 without immersion.  
Also, AAP is like special education...it's a service that those students need (debatable, I know, but it is treated like SpEd in that bussing is provided).  Immersion is not.  Why are we funding something that may provide some additional benefit to a few kids at the expense of being able to provide more funding/more resources to basic instructional needs?  In my view, it is a giant mismatch to say that FCPS is going to put local level IV at all schools to fit the community school model it wants while also having immersion as an option. [/quote]

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