A Letter To LPSS :: Keep Pre-K Immersion Programs
To the decision makers of LPSS,
First and foremost, I have the utmost empathy for your position. Working with a difficult budget and balancing the high emotions and difficult decisions that come along with that is one of the hardest jobs. It’s not a job I would want. However, this job does not operate alone.
Mr. Superintendent, your school board was voted into their positions by the community members and parents that they represent.
Board members, the Superintendent you hired and oversee has to make hard decisions, but it is your responsibility to ensure the voices of your constituents, who feel the effects of these changes most, are heard.
The Pre-K programs, specifically immersion programs, are not a frivolous expense to the district. Most parents pay tuition monthly for their children to have this experience in the PUBLIC system. These children are far more likely to remain in the public school system throughout their education if they start there.
I understand there is an expense to LPSS for the immersion programs. I understand that there is a brand new, beautiful pre-k facility that has seats available. While both of these are true, eliminating one option will not benefit the other.
Parents who choose an immersion program will continue to prioritize that option for their children. Language immersion has a cultural and educational benefit highly-desired by the families in our parish demonstrated by the waitlists and high test scores. This is not by happenstance. This is by choice.
I believe parents have many questions about how this decision came to be.
- What was the process for making this decision? Who was involved?
- What other options were explored? Rather than making cuts, were other grant or funding sources explored fully?
- If charter or private institutions begin to offer immersion programs, how will LPSS compete?
- Where is the unified, public, official statement from LPSS on the matter?
- Other than money saved, what is the desired result from these cuts? What is the outcome leadership anticipates or expects?
This is not just a program disruption. It’s a family disruption. And on behalf of families, we ask for clarity. We ask for strategy. We ask that we leave no stone left unturned. We ask why programs that consistently act as a draw to the public school system must be the first to go.
