Parent group “La Voz de la Comunidad- Framingham” (Community Voice of Framingham) submitted a petition to Framingham Superintendent of Schools Stacy Scott and Bilingual Education Director Gen Grieci, with more than 90 signatures, to bring bilingual education back to Fuller Middle School
The petition, written in English and Spanish, is signed by parents who have children attending both Brophy Elementary and Fuller Middle.
Presently, children in the Transitional Bilingual Education program at Brophy Elementary are able to learn educational content in their native language, and slowly acculturate to their new home, and learn English as quickly as possible in a supportive environment, stated the organization in its petition.
Once students graduate from Brophy and go to Fuller Middle, they “confront a drastic and difficult change to a Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) program,” states the petition.
Parents worry that the SEI environment isolates their children, causes stress and depression, produces low levels of self-esteem and confidence, and poorly affects their academic performance and behavior, states the petition.
Fuller Middle School is the public school district’s only level 3, or low performing middle school.
“With a bilingual program at Fuller, students will feel welcomed and supported, and will be able to understand and learn the material to build their academic skills and confidence in their native language while learning English and adapting to middle school,” states the petition dated July 2.
“We eagerly look forward to your support and the district’s action on helping our students to achieve in Framingham,” wrote the petitioners to Scott and Grieci.
The organization invited Scott and Grieci to join them at their next meeting on July 28.
Fuller Middle had about 440 students in grades 6-7-8 in the 2014-15 school year.
At Fuller Middle, 38.5 percent of the students were Hispanic in the 2014-15 school year, compared to the Framingham public school district which had about one-fourth Hispanic.
Read more here.
