Frederick, Maryland parents trying to start Mandarin, Spanish immersion charter school

Sept. 13, 2022 By Jillian Atelsek AP

In the spacious basement of her Urbana home, Li Zhou commanded rapt attention from the preschoolers sprawled on the carpet before her.

She read to them from a picture book about kindness. The book was written in English, but before turning each page, Zhou would speak to the children in Mandarin Chinese — describing drawings to them, asking them questions and cracking jokes.

Zhou runs A&D Stars, a Chinese immersion preschool program and day care for children 2 to 5 years old. It opened in 2015.

She’s also part of a group working to open a language immersion charter school in Frederick.

MeriSTEM Public Charter School would offer Spanish and Chinese language tracks and nurture bilingualism in young children, according to a nearly 200-page application submitted to the Frederick County Board of Education earlier this year.

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