Maintain Sibling Preference for Davis Dual Immersion Programs

Please let my son have the same opportunity as my daughter! He can't wait to start French in Kindergarten because his sister has been teaching him at home!

My younger children have a definite advantage from hearing Chinese in our home through their older siblings. It is wonderful that they bond and can help each other with their learning

The more students in a household who participate, the more successful the program will be.

Sibling preference is common in immersion and dual immersion programs across the country and around the world for one simple reason: sibling preference is highly correlated with stability and success of immersion and dual immersion programs. It makes sense to support the strength of our dual immersion programs. It makes sense to maintain sibling preference.

Although my child is the youngest in our family, I wished she would have had the opportunity to have a sibling in the program with her. She has missed out on valuable experiences due to no one else speaking Chinese in our home. Other families in the program with 2 or more siblings in immersion have the advantage!

Even without having children in the program, I feel this should be the preferred route to help secure long-term success of the program and long-term retention on the part of the students learning the language.

Please keep your promise to give siblings preference for the Immersion Programs. Serious family sacrifices have been made to keep our promise to support the immersion program and commit to not move or otherwise remove our children from the program.

This change, of not honoring your original promise that sibling preference would be given to families who have committed themselves to this program, would set a dangerous precedent for the entire state. The research is stacked AGAINST this decision, as siblings in families learning the same language are greatly benefitted. Please do not make this unwise decision.

Please grandfather in those who were originally told they would have sibling preference.

10 years ago Featured

I strongly support maintaining sibling preference for the dual immersion programs. Our school is currently year-round and removing this guarantee and risking having other children placed on different tracks would be a deal breaker for many families.

I have observed a synergy in learning in the home among siblings enrolled in the same immersion program, and it even filters down to younger children who are not yet in school. Besides my anecdote, there is also empirical evidence that this is the case. And multiple children in the program leads to more invested parents and families.

I'm signing on behalf of my grandchildren: Aaron, Cameron, Mason, Makayla, and Makenzie Dennis. The oldest three have been involved in the immersion program for years. Their devoted parents, Jorge and Monica Dennis, have been so appreciative and specifically bought homes in order to allow all of their children to have this continued opportunity. Because the entire family is committed, it would be so disappointing for the younger siblings to not have the opportunities they had been guaranteed from the beginning. Please continue with the automatic sibling enrollment.

Maintain the preference. Sybling enrollment helps ALL of the students involved. It is the norm across programs for a reason. It works.

Like many families, we moved here for the immersion program. As we've moved again since entering the immersion program, we've passed on houses outside the area, at great financial cost. The immersion study has required intense time and energy commitment at home (and in-school volunteering)--we forgo many in-school and extracurricular opportunities to stay dedicated to the immersion learning of our two elementary students. It has become part of our at-home culture. I would strongly like to see the numbers, divided by school year, of siblings, in-boundary students, and variance students, to better understand the (apparently immediate and abrupt) need for adjusting the CLEARLY agreed-upon contract/commitment to stick with the program through hard times, in exchange for guaranteed sibling placement.

My nieces & nephews are in the Chinese program. It is extremely beneficial to the families & to the success of immersion programs to keep sibling preference as promised.

Immersion is a family commitment. The board needs to make that same commitment back.

Please don’t make the immersion programs a victim of their own success, but eliminating the very rule (sibling preference) which has helped make the programs successful. Doing so would fragment parental support and erode the high level of commitment necessary to ensure the programs’ continued successes. To continue on the successful path we have started, we need to continue to have sibling preference for all students. Once a family is accepted into an immersion program, whether the family lives in boundary or has a variance, it is imperative the sibling rule apply and continue for all students.

My children have both excelled in the immersion program from pushing and helping each other. Guaranteed this encourages a better success rate for those kids who have siblings in this program. Please continue to allow this to be the way the program progresses. It's imperative for most of the children involved. Thank you.

Please respect the commitment made to families who are in the immersion programs. Please consider grandfathering in the siblings of those already in the program.

Thank you for your consideration.