Pioneer Valley immersion program begins new building construction

HADLEY — Andrea Cummings of Shutesbury sent her son and daughter to the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School because she wanted them to understand a second language, but she did not know one herself.

“It wasn’t a gift I could give them,” she said.

Now, she is excited about the opportunity to expose her daughter Libby Hayes, who is finishing first grade, and her son Robbie Hayes, a fourth grader, to the Chinese language through their high school years.

Cummings was among several dozen parents at an upbeat ceremony Tuesday outside the school to celebrate as construction begins of a four-story, 38,400-square-foot addition that will more than double the size of the school, now at 30,000 square-feet.

The addition will also make it the first kindergarten through Grade 12 Chinese immersion school in the country, Keith Barnicle, district representative for U.S. Congressman James McGovern of Worcester, told those in attendance Tuesday. McGovern’s office wrote a letter in support of the $10.6 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development that made the addition possible.

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