Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

By Katie Olson

These are the notes from the middle school committee meeting #3, which was held on September 7, 2009.

Spanish Immersion Middle School

Mary and I were at the Spanish immersion meeting on 9/7 in which they discussed their concerns.   In brief, they suspect that they will graduate at least 50 more 5th graders than they will have spots for in SI MS, unless the district opens a new school.  They was a woman at the meeting, Jen Fong, who is a Fairmount parent and a District employee, possibly tasked with finding a new SI MS site.  (Though she said she still wasn’t sure if that would be her responsibility, and though Margaret Peterson mentioned meeting with Jen Fong in the course of our meeting, they are in separate departments — Jen under Karling and Margaret under Jan Gustafson (if I’m getting all of this right).)  Jen Fong also brought up the fact that the a new “Site Selection Committee” (not sure I have that name right, but the group that picks the sites for new programs) is being formed.  Jen thought she might end up on the committee, in which case she would have a lot to say about site selection.  Finally, she brought up the idea of a MI/SI joint MS — and the SI parents seemed very enthusiastic about that.  So, it seems that the SI and MI parents have reason to collaborate on the MS issue.  They, however, need a school by next fall, and we have a few more years.  Specific sites were briefly discussed, with a mention of both Horace Mann and Everett as possible sites.  The SI group is also in the process of developing a survey of SI parents in the broader community to get feedback on what they want in a MS.  They also discussed writing some letters addressed to some of the higher ups in the District and on the school board outlining their capacity problems.

Our Next Meeting

We, the Mandarin immersion middle school group, have a meeting scheduled for Sept. 23.  We have a plan to invite someone from DeAvila and from the SI group.  We need to figure out what to include on the agenda.  Possibilities include:  Hearing from the SI and DeAvila folks about their concerns/wishes.  Looking at our parent questionnaire and the SI parent questionnaire — maybe one form could be generated for both groups to respond to?  Discussing our concerns about not falsely raising expectations among parents.  Figuring out who in the district we should talk to in addition to Margaret.  And finally, preparing for our next meeting with Margaret.

Margaret’s assistant, Ling, e-mailed me with a date for a meeting with Margaret.  Our next one will be Oct. 13, 6pm.  Any volunteers to host?  Our family will just be returning from a trip to the East Coast that day, so it would be tough for me to do it….

Please let me know (1) thoughts on agenda for 9/23 (2) can you host for 10/13 (3) and Mary/Beth — will you invite the SI/DeAvila folks to the 9/23 meeting?