@font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }@font-face { font-family: "Arial"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times; }p.MsoBodyText, li.MsoBodyText, div.MsoBodyText { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: black; }a:link, span.MsoHyperlink { color: blue; text-decoration: underline; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: purple; text-decoration: underline; }div.Section1 { page: Section1;  This initiative by parents, for an official program review, is intended to be a positive movement to create awareness and work towards a better, successful Spanish Bilingual Program at SPB.

Click on the Blog tab for updates and meeting notes.

The Issues
Spanish Instructional Time: The required number of Spanish instructional minutes does not appear to be consistently being met across all grade levels for the 2010/2011 year.  Spanish Language is the basic foundation of this alternative program and should always be met for all grade levels from year to year.
Are there enough Spanish teachers in our school to support the needs of our Spanish Bilingual Program?

Class Size: Several Spanish program classes have unreasonably high class sizes (grade 6 classes at 35 students/ grade 9 classes are over 30 students).  This has led to an increase in traditional learning in the classroom and lost learning time (including Spanish language time) due to behaviour management issues.
Is our program, in particular class sizes, affected by the needs of other programs in the school?

SPB Spanish Bilingual Middle School Program Vision:  We believe there needs to be a vision or a plan set out for the Spanish Bilingual Middle School Program as both a Spanish Language Program and as a Middle School.
Is it possible to have a Spanish Bilingual Middle School Program that practices a true middle school approach, in a building that houses two other junior high programs, and all work under the same financial umbrella?

Our Goals
1. Ensure awareness at all levels of the CBE of the deficiencies and obstacles that the SPB Spanish Bilingual Middle School Program faces. We believe the program is inhibited from providing the basic foundation of a Spanish Bilingual Middle School program and from reaching it’s full potential. 2. Ensure the accountability of the CBE to provide the appropriate resources to support a successful Spanish Bilingual Middle School Program by conducting an official program review of the Spanish Bilingual Program at Senator Patrick Burns School. 3. Ensure a commitment from the CBE to provide the appropriate resources and initiative to address deficiencies in the Spanish Bilingual Middle School Program in order to deliver not only an adequate program, but also an exceptional educational experience for the children enrolled in the program.

Desired Outcomes

• Always meet the minimum expectations for Spanish instructional time as outlined in the Memorandum Of Understanding with the government of Spain.
• Achieve reasonable class sizes across the Spanish Program.
• Create one program that is an integrated community of cultural learning. In other words - a plan to realize a true Escuela Senator Patrick Burns Middle School.
  

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