On a 4 to 3 vote tonight, the Portland Public School Board approved a resolution to sponsor the Le Monde French (Immersion) Charter School. Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!
Congratulations to the board (photo here) and supporters of the Le Monde French Charter School for all their hard work! Now there is even more work ahead, but they are making a better world (and I think they know it).
Thank you to the four PPS Board members who voted in favor of the resolution: Trudy Sargent, Bobbie Regan, Pam Knowles, and Greg Belisle. I don’t know what political pressures they were under to vote “no,” but they came through when it counted. They too are making a better world.
What can one say about the three PPS Board members who voted “no.” I’ll leave them nameless. All expressed some support for foreign language immersion programs. But several seemed to think that the Le Monde proposal would hinder PPS in serving under performing students (and schools). First, it is crazy to dumb down curriculum and opportunities for some in an effort to let others catch up. The result is a second-rate education and school system. All students in PPS should have an opportunity to learn a second language through an immersion programs. Second, there is no adverse financial impact on PPS. Third, there can be an impact on enrollment in neighborhood school. That’s why I’ve called to PPS to stop its enrollment balancing process in NE Portland until expansion of Mandarin and Japanese immersion programs are incorporated as part of future plans. But the Le Monde French Charter School, to be located somewhere in West Portland, is unlikely to have much of an impact on any one school.
At bottom, I think the three Board members who voted “no” just do not yet understand the 21st century. They think second language skills would be nice but are not essential for the survival and economic prosperity of our next generations. They are so wrong and outdated.
This was a small victory in making Portland more of an international city, and not a provincial, insular place that cannot compete in the global economy.
The Oregonian article “French immersion charter school gets green light to open in Portland next fall” by Betsy Hammond is here.
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