As a current parent, future parent, or teacher at Miner Elementary School in Washington, DC, I am interested in learning whether language immersion is a feasible program option for our school. I therefore respectfully request that Miner Elementary School’s principal, Dr. Anne Evans, submit a Letter of Interest to the Office of Teaching and Learning (OTL), the Language Acquisition Division (LAD) and the school’s Instructional Superintendent by April 15, 2016 to inform them of the school’s interest in starting a language immersion program.

The Letter of Interest will start a process for determining the feasibility of a language immersion program at Miner in collaboration with OTL and LAD. It is not a commitment to a language immersion program. It is a necessary step to determine whether it is feasible and if so, how it can be implemented so that all students benefit.

My request is supported by the findings from the Visioning Team Survey, commissioned by Miner’s Parent Teacher Organization (PTO), which found that a majority of those surveyed support the idea of adopting a language immersion program. In addition, there are sufficient data to show that an immersion program has proven benefits for students, including improved cognitive functions and greater academic achievement in other areas of study. In addition, it is a cost effective program option; DCPS data shows that schools with an immersion program have budgets that are similar to or less than schools that do not.

Respectfully, the undersigned