Maintain Sibling Preference for Davis Dual Immersion Programs

Please keep sibling in Chinese immersion program automatically.

Ending sibling priority will force us to create a serious division within our own families--a division that will be noticeable on a day-to-day basis as our older children speak, study, and support each other in their 2nd language while the younger look on, left out in their very own home. How could this possibly be a good policy? Please don't force us to choose between an awesome immersion program and the cohesiveness of our family unit! If you must change your policies, at the very least let siblings in for those already in the program who relied on sibling priority when we entered the program! New incoming families will at least have notice and can make their decisions accordingly. Thank you.

When we out grew our home we built within the same school boundaries specifically so our daughter could stay in her immersion program and so her younger siblings could eventually be in the program as well. We have looked forward to the day when they can all sit around the dinner table together and speak a 2nd language together. We have made commitments and long term life decisions for our family based on promises made to us that younger siblings would automatically be placed in the immersion program.

When our oldest daughter, who is now in 3rd grade, entered the immersion program, we committed to keep her in the program, to put in extra work at home. When we moved recently, we were very deliberate in where we moved to. We made sure it was still within our school boundaries so that our two daughters now in the program could continue in it, and so that their two younger siblings would have the same opportunity. DSD made a commitment, too, that my younger children would be able to participate in this wonderful immersion program. We were willing to make a major life decision, where our family lives, based largely on keeping our kids in immersion. I feel that the decent thing for DSD to do is uphold it's commitment to my family and hundreds of other families.

Please keep your promise to the students and families! We made a commitment based on your commitment.

I think it is so important to keeps siblings together in this wonderful immersion program!

This is what we were promised when originally entering the program. I feel that changing the way students are accepted into the program without any notice is absolutely ridiculous and unfair to those of us who have been in the program.

We have two older daughters in the immersion program (6th and 3rd grade) and our youngest who will start Kindergarten this fall. How unfortunate it would be for our youngest if she misses out. We have been with the program from the beginning, and we were PROMISED that all younger siblings would also get in. It would be devasting to our youngest if she were the only one of her sisters to not have this opportunity. We have purposely stayed in this area because of the immersion program. I beg the district to keep your promises.

Sibling preference is vital in the stability of the Chinese Program.

We were promised sibling preference at the initial Chinese Immersion Meeting and this is one reason we enrolled and have dedicated ourselves to this commitment.

Families who are currently in the program should be given sibling preference for their incoming students - in order to keep families together. I have 3 children in the program with one more incoming and I absolutely see how valuable the sibling help with the language has been; along with it being a really cool family experience. In the future - if sibling preference is only given to families within the school boundaries, and parents are given that information when their first child starts, then that is understandable. I think though that families with-in boundaries should have continued sibling preference. Families who have already started should be allowed to finish together. It's not good policy to change things on families in the process. If changes are made and information given when a new family starts, then that would be more fair and better policy.

Please keep your promise. We made a promise to stay in the program and I was assured all my children could be a part of it. I would be heart broken if my youngest wasn't able to be a part of the program like his siblings.

Please honor your commitment and allow siblings of existing Chinese Immersion families to be admitted.

10 years ago Featured

Family support is crucial to the success of these dual immersion programs. My older child helps my younger one with immersion homework that I can not. It's a great opportunity for them to build skills teaching each other.

The reason we chose the house and area we did was because of the language immersion program for our kids

I feel the Davis School District used a "bait and switch" tactic on the parents of immersion children. I feel they did everything in their power, including a promise to keep siblings together, to keep up numbers in the school to not lose the immersion program. Now that numbers are high in interest, they have chosen to change that.

In the literature, parental involvement is consistently shown to have a high impact on student achievement (unlike, say, homework, which has a medium-to-zero effect depending on the students' grade level). Guaranteeing siblings admission into the program seems to me to be a low-cost way to encourage parental involvement.

Changing your immersion policy would be unfair, and would cause many inconveniences for families.

It's important to have siblings in the program together. They can practice on one another at home and help one another. It just makes sense.

We moved to this location because of the dual immersion program with the expectation of our 2 youngest being in the same program our older 3 children have been blessed to take part in. We've been in the dual immersion program for 5 years and are completely invested in all of our children being able to participate.