Board Votes to Reduce Spanish Immersion in 6th Grade

The St. Louis Park School Board voted on Monday to slightly reduce the amount of Spanish immersion offerings available to sixth-grade students, a move board members hope will bring more equity to the .

Specifically, the change impacts students in the Extended Spanish Program, which was implemented for sixth-graders at the junior high after dropped sixth grade and became a K-5 school during the district's .

Students in the ESP program will now be taught math in English after previously having the class in Spanish. These students will continue to have social studies and science in Spanish, in addition to a few other classes.

Board members were split over whether to reduce Spanish immersion offerings even more—dissenting voters Joe Tatalovich, Pam Rykken and Bruce Richardson said they wanted to see both math and science taught in English.

However, all seven board members generally agreed that some reduction was necessary to create more opportunities for ESP students and non-ESP students to have classes together.

A task force organized by the school district ultimately supported the plan approved by the board. In a report, task force members said they looked for a plan that both maintained the integrity of the immersion program and allowed students of different backgrounds to interact more.

Parents pushing the board to reduce Spanish immersion offerings at the junior high have claimed non-ESP students face higher class sizes than their ESP counterparts, arguing that more classes should be mixed to address the discrepancy.

Other parents have disagreed, saying that ESP works well and shouldn't be changed.

Board member Jim Yarosh said Monday's vote should not be considered a final say on the matter, noting that the district needs to be flexible down the road.

"We're constantly re-evaluating this program," he said. "This is not a watershed moment."