February 3, 2023

A PETITION BY THE RESIDENTS OF PARKLAND, BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA:

ADDRESSED TO:

Valerie Wanza, Superintendent of Schools, Temporary

Dr. Earlean Smiley, Superintendent of Schools, Interim

Daniel Foganholi, School Board Member, District 1

Torey Alston, School Board Member, District 2

Sarah Leonardi, School Board Member, District 3

Lori Alhadeff Chair, School Board Member, District 4

Dr. Jeff Holness, School Board Member, District 5

Brenda Fam, Esq., School Board, District 6

Nora Rupert, School Board Member, District 7

Dr. Allen Zeman, School Board Member, Countywide At-Large, Seat 8

Debra Hixon, Vice Chair, School Board Member, Countywide At-Large, Seat 9

Dr. Nicole Mancini, Chief of Academics

Victoria B. Saldala, Director Bilingual/ESOL Department

Idalina Orta, Educational Specialist I Dual Language

Gloria Y. Rodriguez, Instructional Facilitator

Maja Hamoui, Instructional Facilitator

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED PETITIONERS, RESPECTFULLY BRING TO YOUR ATTENTION THE FOLLOWING PROBLEM, WITH RECOMMENDATIONS AND A REQUEST FOR ACTION:

The Dual Language program was introduced by Broward County Schools to offers a school within school approach to second language acquisition education. The goal of the program is to provide students with the opportunity to become fully bilingual by learning, listening, speaking, reading and writing skills in English and the target language. It is suggested that students start participating in the program in Kindergarten. Students learn the second language in context. Language Arts, Social Studies, and Math are taught in English and Spanish.

The Dual Language program has become highly sought after by parents and children. It is a wonderfully enriching program that offers a multitude of benefits for children including:

• Giving Students the opportunity to meet the demands of today’s global society and economic opportunities.
• Prepares students for college and career readiness.
• Develops higher-order thinking skills as students learn a second language.
• Knowledge learned through one language facilitates the acquisition of a second language.
• Responds to the parental desire for dual language programs.
• Students benefit from cognitive advantages associated with second language acquisition.
• Promotes multicultural awareness and appreciation for other languages and cultures.

At the inception of the program, the District enumerated that it would provide the

following to support participating elementary schools:

• Instructional textbooks needed for implementation.
• Curriculum Maps
• Professional Development during the Summer Academy.
• Ongoing teacher support via, TEAMS, Bookings, and/or face-to-face
• Two Instructional Facilitators to support and model lessons
• Technical assistance to develop instructional materials as needed.

After several years in execution and a multitude of systemic issues the undersigned Petitioners believe the existing funding model for the Dual Language program is flawed. Specifically as it pertains to Riverglades Elementary School, this program has been presented to local parents as a program funded by the District to run from Kindergarten at Riverglades Elementary School, through Westglades Middle School, to 12th grade at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School; and in fact, this premise continues to draw considerable interest from local families for their incoming Kindergarteners. However, the district and school board are failing to provide the funds to execute the full program as advertised.

Specifically, there has been underfunding and lack of district support in the following areas:

• Teacher acquisition and retention. Riverglades Elementary School has faced ongoing difficulties hiring and retaining Dual Language teachers, in large part because the district is not compensating these teachers for the additional workload that the program demands of them.

• Curriculum. The lack of funding has left the Dual Language program unequipped with a fully enriched curriculum, which would include but is not limited to: a Spanish-language book library, activities, and media that complement the basic curriculum. Lack of funding to help support students that need more assistance.

• Academic assistance for students. There is insufficient funding to support the students who need academic assistance, outside of the JEDI program (which is limited in availability, is not open to all the grade levels, and only runs once a year). That lack of support has caused preventable defection from the program.

• Long-term planning into the middle and high school grades. Current 5th graders in the inaugural Riverglades Elementary Dual Language class are due to graduate imminently to Westglades Middle School in the fall of 2023 - yet, neither Riverglades Elementary, nor Westglades Middle School, nor any of the parents of these students have been provided assurances that the program will continue on in their zoned middle school, or that the necessary faculty have been hired at Westglades Middle School, or any definitive information about the design of the program in the middle school grades.

The Dual Language program, in addition to the multitude of benefits it provides participating students, has also proven to be a major draw for local families and attracts student enrollment in the Broward County public school system. Proper funding is vital to ensure the success of the students in the Dual Language program, as well as the ongoing success of the program itself.

The undersigned Petitioners request that our elected School Board utilize their available resources and access to do the following:

1. Put pressure on the district to properly fund this program from the elementary level through high school.
2. We request the creation of a Broward Dual Language Advisory Council for proper and ongoing representation within Broward County Schools, similar to the Broward Gifted Advisory Council and Broward ESE Advisory Council.