Blue Valley School District officials say the district’s Chinese Immersion program is unsustainable under its current operation, due to ongoing staffing challenges.
Although no final action was taken, the Blue Valley Board of Education on Monday received four initial options for altering the program.
The district suggested modifying or phasing it out
- Kelly Ott, executive director of curriculum, instruction and innovation for the district, presented the options.
- The first of the four options was to begin students in a language immersion program starting in third grade instead of kindergarten.
- The second option involved offering a Mandarin “special” class starting in second grade in place of an immersive program.
- The last two options involved “sunsetting” the program — either letting the currently-enrolled students stay in the program through the 2027-28 school year, or ending the program in May.
The biggest challenge is staffing shortages
- Ott told the board the program has struggled to find and retain enough teachers to meet the enrollment demand.
- She said multiple issues factor into staffing challenges, including the required licensure for the program and the impact of the immigration process timeline on teachers.
- For example, the last open position the district posted for the program garnered three applicants, and only one applicant had the proper licensure.
- “While we’ve been successful to this point we and we have dedicated and qualified staff, that success is tenuous,” Ott said. “We do not have confidence given trends in staffing that we can continue the program without interruption.”
Students and parents want the program to stay
- Several parents with children in the program expressed concerns about the possibility of ending it.
- Many said they had not received enough notice that the program was struggling and asked the board to form a parental advisory group.
- The district is forming such a group.
- Some students in the program also voiced support for continuing it, speaking to the board in both Mandarin and English.
- “It has been a challenging and rewarding experience,” said Naomi Brown, a fifth-grade student in the program. “I can read write and speak nearly fluent Mandarin. To consider ending the program would result in losing so much of the knowledge we’ve all worked so hard to gain.”
The school board also wants to keep the program going
- Board member Jim McMullen said making a permanent choice because of the current labor market seemed hasty.
- “We’ve invested a lot and it’s obviously a tight community,” he said. “I get nervous about investing so much in a program and then you get into a point of stress in the labor market — which is stressing us in a lot of different areas — and making a decision that we’re going to regret.”
The school board is slated to take final action in March
- The district will also form a parental advisory group made up of parents with students in the program.
- District officials will use feedback from the group to revise these options and present them to the board for final action March 6.
Go deeper: Blue Valley to evaluate Chinese Immersion Program
