Students at two elementary schools in White Bear Lake will have lessons in a mix of English and Spanish next school year.
White Bear Lake schools to offer Spanish dual-language immersion
The program, a popular draw at other schools across the metro, will launch at two elementary schools next fall.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
November 25, 2024 at 2:00PM
![Liliana Rodríguez, with the Office of Latine Achievement, instructs students at a downtown homeless shelter in Minneapolis, Minn., on Friday, Dec. 22, 2023. The Office of Latine Achievement held a winter break academy that the district put on for students at a homeless shelter in Minneapolis. The only significant boost to enrollment at the city’s schools is coming from a wave of hundreds of immigrants to the district. Many of the students are from Ecuador and do not speak English, and most are in tough or unstable living situations. Schools are scrambling to accommodate dozens of high-needs students they hadn’t planned for in their budgets this year. The few dual-language programs in the city are bursting at the seams, meaning many of the new immigrants are placed at schools without enough bilingual educators. ] Elizabeth Flores • liz.flores@startribune.com](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/DO76O4JSZBEUPJ2ERNUZOK7WAE.jpg?&w=712)
The district is the latest to launch a Spanish dual immersion program, designed to help students become bilingual by offering opportunities to read, write, listen and speak in two languages. Starting next fall, Otter Lake and Matoska International elementary schools in White Bear Lake will each host up to three immersion kindergarten classes. Transportation for the program will be offered to families throughout the district.
The model is a popular draw at other schools across the metro area. Some districts, like Richfield, are seeing boosts in the number of families open enrolling there so they can get their child into Spanish dual-language immersion classes. In the face of enrollment declines and budget woes, Minneapolis Public Schools has discussed expanding dual-language immersion programming to try to draw families to the city’s schools.
Some, but not all, of the school districts surrounding White Bear Lake Area Schools have similar programs, said Alison Gillespie, the district’s assistant superintendent for teaching and learning.
“We have families that have younger children in immersion daycares that are close to us who were really wondering what type of programming that we were going to offer,” she said. “We’re getting continuous feedback from people that they were excited about the potential of this.”
The White Bear Lake program is designed to serve both Spanish-speaking families and families that don’t speak Spanish at home. Discussions about adding such a program in the district have been ongoing for more than a decade, Superintendent Wayne Kazmierczak said.
“We were poised to move ahead,” he said, adding that district leaders felt the addition aligned with the district’s strategic plan while addressing families’ desires and student need.
School Board Chair Angela Thompson agreed. “This is forward-thinking education,” she said in a statement. “When I look at the job market, almost all of our employers want you to have a second language.”
Robert Martin Heiland of Minneapolis suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen on Sept. 17 and died nearly two weeks later, officials said.
