Maintain Sibling Preference for Davis Dual Immersion Programs

Please think about how the Immersion program can help build unity and strength among siblings. My daughter has been so excited to start Chinese after watching her older sister in the program.

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The current students and their siblings should be grandfathered into the program since a contract, be it written or verbal, was made. Going back on your word, not only destroys the contract but the credibility of the school.

You promised us years ago that all siblings would be in the program. We just built a new house in the same school boundaries because we had planned on each of our kids continuing with the program. Siblings would do great in the program because they have someone at home they are able to converse with. This would be a huge mistake not letting siblings automatically in the program!!!

Keep your promises!!

It is crucial that siblings be automatically enrolled in the immersion program to keep the family educational unit together. I would have given this program different consideration had I known this would change. This was a promise given to our families and it is important the schools follow through on this. If there is the expectation of families to make a long-term commitment to the immersion program then there is the expectation of the board to hold up their end of this and keep their word.

My son had a hard time adjusting to the immersion environment. He LOVES it now and is so excited for his younger siblings to learn Chinese. We have been preparing his younger sister and getting her excited to start kindergarten this year. Her brother has taught her and her three-year-old brother songs and vocabulary already in Chinese. She is so excited to learn Chinese and it would be devastating to her after we have been preparing her for so long. I have older non-immersion children and they have struggled with jealously of their little brother but can understand that this opportunity wasn’t available for them. Our family made a commitment to this program. We have already passed up one job opportunity to stay in immersion and plan on passing up more. Yet if our younger children are not in the program I doubt we will stay the same course. How can we justify centering such major decisions on one child’s activity especially if other children are already struggling with not getting to take part. Immersion requires very committed families. Unfortunately, commitment wanes with only one child in the program.

I have loved to see my children speak, sing, and help each other with Chinese. It really is a benefit to have them all (so far) in the program together. I hope that continues on to our youngest as well.

I have 5 kids, 2 are in the Chinese immersion program. My first 2 missed the immersion program because it's hadn't been implemented yet. We don't have money to be able to give my kids music lessons, sports teams or other opportunities. I have been happy that at least some of them can learn a second language. I was planning on my youngest that will be going into Kindergarten in 2017 to be able to do the immersion program also.

A child will be more successful in any immersion program when they have the support of other siblings.

It is important to keep the sibling program in effect. It is much more effective for the learning of a language to have siblings to practice with.

If my last child isn't able to join the program and has to attend a different school. It would force my hand to pull my older 2 children from the program. The schools start and end at the same time. I dive/commute my kids to Muir. It takes 15-20 minutes minimum. I can't be in 2 places at once twice a day. I would have no choice, but to pull my future 5th and 3rd graders from the immersion program. Not to mention school programs, meetings, fundraisers and volunteering is made much more difficult if my kids are at separate schools. We have loved this program and we would be very sad to have to leave it early! Please keep our family's together!!

The immersion program is a family program. We as a family commit to remain in the program so our whole family can support and benefit from it. We need the same support from the district that they have expect from us.

Please maintain sibling preference. We are committed as parents to this program and deserve the support of the school program. I want all of my children to have the same experience as we set our home/life to support the Chinese Immersion program.

The obvious solution is to expand the programs so as to allow Davis County residents interested in dual immersions programs to benefit from them. The School District should not seek to shrink/diminish the program by removing one of the fundamental things that's ensured it's success - sibling preference. Thanks!

Our family has made serious sacrifices of time, money, and lost opportunities based on the premise that all of our children would be admitted into the immersion program, as promised to us by our principal as recently as March. Please do not make this drastic change 3 months before the new school year. I don't know the reasoning behind this proposed change, but it sure seems like these issues were very foreseeable and should have been dealt with by asking for more parental input as well as by giving us far more notice.

I think it is important for siblings to attend an immersion language school together to support each other at school and at home. Further, children are more likely to succeed, by being able to talk and practice at home with each other. Also, this policy increases the commitment of families to the school. Parent volunteers help with many many programs at their schools. Knowing that our school would serve ALL our children increased our involvement at that school MORE than the sum of our involvement and financial contribution might have been at two separate schools. We are more interested in school-wide success and having a long-standing engagement with the school and teachers knowing there are more siblings to follow. Also, to the extent that some slots are filled with out-of-boundary families, keeping siblings at one school reduces car traffic and parking issues around the school. At our school, this is significant.

The immersion program takes a lot of family commitment, especially when my children don't live in the boundaries. I doubt I would be as committed if only part of my family was allowed in the program. Also, my children are much better at the language because they talk all the time with each other in the foreign language.

At least allow schools to choose their own policy.

Please consider what's at stake by changing this policy. To start with, it just doesn't seem right to do this to all the families who, even up until a few months ago at the parent meetings, were assured that their other children/siblings would be part of the program, and who made a commitment to invest in and be dedicated to the program in exchange for the commitment the school district made to them to allow their families to stay together. Additionally, true immersion happens when children are allowed to speak the language both inside and outside of the home, and it seems like such a disservice to the immersion programs to take away the feeling of commitment that comes from a family who is on the same page and is able to get excited about the same things, not to mention the mentoring that occurs when siblings are able to help each other. So many of the immersion families have invested both time and money into Chinese classes for themselves, in addition to Chinese books, DVDs, apps, computer programs, etc., knowing that their other children would benefit from them as well. I can only imagine that if there is no sense of commitment to the program within families, these investments would often not be made.