Nearly 150 people attended Thursday night’s school board meeting. Some advocated for the Mandarin Dual Language program at Glenwood Elementary School, while others spoke against the program as too costly at a time of tight budgets.

The meeting was much calmer than a November meeting, when Carborro Elementary parents came out concerned about the sudden news of possible redistricting. At that meeting, the board rejected a staff proposal to create a Spanish/Mandarin dual language magnet at a current school because it would mean moving either the Mandarin or Spanish program at the schools that house them in order to combine them. It would also have included a huge redistricting of schools in December or next school year.

According to fall statistics, Glenwood has 513 students, 90 above capacity. Glenwood is the smallest elementary school in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, yet it has the fifth-largest student population among the 11 elementary schools.

Assistant Superintendent Todd LoFrese attributed Glenwood’s growth to an additional dual-language track added to the school, transfers of older siblings of newly enrolled dual-language kindergarten students, students’ enrollment into dual language at upper grades and growth of the school’s attendance zone.

Here’s some information from the Mandarin parent group there.