Public comment on cuts to Springfield dual immersion program: No tiene sentido
Presenter: During the Springfield School Board meeting June 8, public comments ask the board to reconsider changes to the dual immersion program.
Aidana Vasquez y Rhiannon Palacios Cronin: Buenas tardes a todos. Nuestros nombres son Aidana Vasquez y Rhiannon Palacios. Actualmente estamos en la preparatoria de Springfield y hemos estado en el programa de doble inmersión desde que empezamos la primaria.
Venimos para hablar con todos ustedes sobre el corte previsto del programa de doble inmersión en nuestro distrito escolar.
Good evening everyone. Our names are Rhiannon Palacios and Aidana Vasquez. We are currently enrolled as sophomores at Springfield High School and have been in the dual immersion program since we were started in kindergarten. We came here today to speak to you about the intended cut of the dual immersion program in our school district.
Nuestro programa fue creado para personas como nosotros en mente—personas que crecieron con el español en nuestros hogares y nuestros corazones.
Nuestro idioma no sólo es importante para la diversidad, sino también es una de las mayores fortalezas de nuestra escuela. Y el 30% de nuestro cuerpo estudiantil, que es representado por estudiantes latinos, es para quienes nuestros padres lo hablan en casa o para esos momentos en donde no hay una palabra en inglés que pueda realmente expresar como nos sentimos en algún momento.
Our program was created for people like us in mind. People who grew up with Spanish in our homes and in our hearts. And as a quick note, I would like to clarify that approximately 30% of our student body is represented by Latino students.
Not only is our language important for multilingual diversity, which is one of our school’s biggest strengths, but for community—for those of us whose parents speak it at home or just the times where there is no word in English that can truly convey how we feel in that moment.
Para hacer una comparación de cómo se programa de inmersión dual, es como una clase típica de inglés que se enseña en español.
Si tuvieras que mover a nuestros estudiantes de doble inmersión a una clase regular de español 2 o 3, sería como poner a un estudiante que habla inglés con total fluidez en una clase de ELD.
No tiene sentido, porque he de tener un aprendizaje poniéndolos en una clase de nivel principiante después de que hayan estado aprendiendo en una que cree el rigor adecuado.
To give a comparison of what the dual immersion program is like, it’s like a typical English class—just taught in Spanish. If you were to move a dual immersion student down to a regular Spanish 2 or 3 class, it would be like putting a student who is fully fluent in English into an ELD class.
It makes no sense. Why would you put—Why would you hold back their learning by putting them into a beginner-level class after they’ve been learning one that creates adequate rigor?
Ahora, obviamente, nuestra clase no son solo números, sino las personas que la dirigen con para nosotros quienes hacen una diferencia de programa.
El tamaño de nuestra clase ha crecido inmensamente desde el año pasado debido a la admisión de hablantes nativos en el programa, en lugar de dejarlos en una clase regular de español, los maestros han enfrentado dificultades tres dificultades y han podido superarlos con aún una sonrisa en sus rostros y emoción en enseñarnos.
Now, obviously our class isn’t just statistics, but our class size has grown immensely in the past year, even though our teachers have faced hardship after hardship.
Así que les pedimos que reconsideren su decisión sobre nuestro programa de doble inmersión porque no es sólo otra clase de español, es una clase de idioma igual que el inglés y sus estudiantes dependen de todos sus aspectos para poder guiarlos a través de sus carreras y educativas. Entiendo que hay un gran corte, pero cortar una clase de hablantes nativos no es la respuesta.
As you consider a decision, we ask that you consider your choice about the dual immersion program. Because it is not just another Spanish class. It is a language class like English. It is students that depend on its aspects to be able to help guide them through the educational careers.
If I might suggest this board and acting and interim superintendents, to come to meet the bilingual students and get to know them and their classes?
I understand that this is a huge deficit that we need to figure out how to live with in the next year, but cutting a native speaker language class is not the answer.
Springfield: Douglas Cornejo Rosales Murray:
Douglas Cornejo Rosales Murray: Hello. I’m here to talk about dual immersion. To me dual immersion is the most beneficial and impactful program in this district. It fosters community and support and so many more important things that it would be too long of a list.
The program gets students from many lingual and cultural backgrounds and teaches them two languages that is not only very prevalent and useful, but typically connects them to more people.
My dad is from El Salvador and my mom is from Montana. Due to societal pressure and my dad losing contact with most of his family and friends, we primarily speak English at home.
If I didn’t have this program, I would most likely be mediocre or bad at speaking Spanish, which would make me lose so much. I would lose family, friends, knowledge. And honestly, I feel that if I was never in dual immersion, I would be a very different person.
I’ve been in this program since kindergarten and I remember so much of every year I’ve been in the program. Like how in every year of elementary school, we had a field trip for Dia de Los Muertos, and we got to celebrate the holiday and learn about it. Even though each year was nearly identical, I always had fun going to it and going with my friends.
Another important memory is in eighth grade, when me and another student went to a dual immersion conference for the state as speakers. I have no idea if we had any impact on them, but it was nice to have a room full of adults that were as invested in dual immersion programs as we were and are.
These small moments and countless more are the heart of dual immersion and something students outside the program don’t experience possibly ever. Through these many years, I have supported the program through so much, and these proposed cuts truly hurt me, especially since I’m part of the first cohort of the entire program.
But more importantly, it hurts everybody ever involved in the program and our large Spanish-speaking community, especially for students who only speak Spanish. Our dual immersion history classes help them learn history the same as any English-speaking student would.
I have had many classes with monolingual Spanish students, and compared to English-focused classes, they do so much better in the dual immersion history classes.
As someone who is mixed, I’ve always felt like I had to choose my Latino side or my white side, but this program has helped me embrace both. This program, especially at the elementary level, connects primarily English-speaking and primarily Spanish-speaking students to each other and helps them learn together and learn both languages.
Thanks to this program, I would have never had many of the friends I have now. I also probably wouldn’t be able to speak to most of my dad’s family, because most of them only speak Spanish. Without the program, I would have never attempted the stamp test to get my global seal of biliteracy and so much more.
I’m just one of many. There are so many students who’ve all had different experiences in the program, and countless more who will have experiences in dual immersion in the future. And with these cuts, they will all lose a chance to form more.
Andrea Madrigal Ramirez: My name is Andrea Madrigal Ramirez. I am a current junior and student body inclusivity officer at Springfield High School.
Before I go further in explanation, I do want to clarify that I am not and have never been part of a dual immersion program in this district or any other district I was in.
However, as someone who has benefited from growing up bilingual most of my life, I am fully aware of how being bilingual has affected me throughout my life. So I do have an idea of how the dual immersion program may affect other students.
As if by coincidence, just last month I wrote a research paper in my College Now Writing 121 class titled, ‘In what ways does multilingualism impact children’s academic performance?’ And what I learned while researching for my essay is that bilingualism doesn’t just give students access to higher-paying jobs, it also enables them to reach fuller academic potential at a more efficient rate than monolinguals.
So as a result of cutting the dual immersion program, you would essentially be preventing dual immersion students from reaching their highest academic performance potential.
According to my research essay and the sources I use, bilingualism provides advantages in the executive control of young humans. Executive control is a brain’s function that makes humans capable of carrying out complex tasks that include problem solving, inhibiting information already perceived, focusing attention on a goal, or monitoring performance.
According to a study, bilingual children show a significant advantage in executive control tasks compared to monolingual children. Multilingualism can counteract executive control struggles such as impulse control, difficulty in regulating emotions, school organization, time management, independence, future planning, and remembering instructions.
In simpler words, bilingualism can speed executive control achievements, which can result in better overall academic performance. Another finding from my research paper is that individuals who are multilingual have better metalinguistic awareness. Metalinguistic awareness is the ability to look at language as a thing, evaluate language as a process or system, and maneuver successfully in using a language.
Key components of metalinguistic awareness that I studied and that are positively impacted by bilingual education are phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and syntactic awareness.
In terms of phonological awareness, children who interact in more than one language have higher vocabulary acquisition and vocabulary development, awareness of genre and style norms and test features in various languages. This is crucial to students’ understanding of literature and the ability to use words.
Syntactic awareness is the ability to use a knowledge of grammar to comprehend the meaning that originates from relationship between words and sentences. Morphological awareness is the ability to acknowledge that words are made up of smaller units of meaning, such as suffixes, and roots.
Maya Olson: Hello, my name is Maya Olson. I’m a freshman at Springfield High School, and I have been a part of the dual immersion program since kindergarten. Since then, going to school has always meant learning and not just English, but also Spanish. The opportunity I have had to learn Spanish all these years is something I’ve gotten so comfortable with that it’s easy to sometimes take for granted.
I never would have even imagined that this incredibly big part of my life could just be gone. Thinking about this now makes me feel so immensely grateful for this program and everything it has taught me. I’ve always considered being able to speak multiple languages such a cool power to have, and dual immersion has made that possible for me to grow that ability.
One of my main goals throughout school has always been to get recognized at graduation for my completion of this program. To think that my ten years of working hard and putting in so much effort are for nothing. I only needed to complete three more years and now I can’t.
I don’t even want to imagine what the current eleventh graders in dual immersion feel like now because of these cuts, with only one more year left. This program hasn’t even been given time to grow, and now not a single class will ever start.
Dual immersion in elementary and graduate still in it. And suddenly, out of nowhere, I’m being told that my dual immersion class is being replaced with just a regular Spanish class.
To some people, this may not sound that different, but a regular high school Spanish class is far from the same. Beginning in elementary, I haven’t just been taught Spanish. I have learned math, language arts, and social studies all in Spanish. That is what makes this program such a remarkable experience. I just want the district to realize what they are taking away from me and the impact their decisions have on my future and so many other students with me here today.
I have signatures from over 100 students through middle school and high school who want to be heard and deserve to be heard. This program means so much to us and we don’t want to see you see it go.
Dr. Anselmo Villanueva: My name is Dr. Anselmo Villanueva. I come before you as a local educator and a community member with over fifty years in K-12 and higher education. I have been involved in bilingual education since my first position as a third grade classroom teacher.
One of my first encounters with your district was in the mid nineteen eighties, when I heard that an assistant principal at one of the high schools was denying enrollment to Latino students who could not prove that they were legal residents. I had to remind him of the landmark nineteen eighty two decision by the Supreme Court, Plyler versus Doe, which originated from a lawsuit against the Tyler Independent School District in Texas. The court ruled that states could not deny students a free public education based on their immigration status.
I have lived through the eras where students who are Latino are called disadvantaged minorities and at risk.
Now, fast forward to tonight, along with many others in this room and the many who could not be here in person, we find ourselves fighting the same battle. For the students who are being denied their basic education.
I thought we had made progress since that assistant principal wanted to deny enrollment to Latino students in the nineteen eighties. Now it looks like things are going backwards once again. Not only are these students who being denied their education by your decision, but just as important, their language and their culture.
Bilingual education is meant to level the playing field. In this case, to give students the skills and background to eventually compete in the global job market. I will not go into all the benefits of dual immersion, since I assume that the curriculum specialists in your district have provided you with ample background documentation.
Unfortunately, I find myself here before you again, just like in the nineteen eighties, trying to correct the wrong. I implore you to restore the bilingual program in its entirety. I am confident that you will make the right decision so that you can sleep soundly at night knowing that you did the right thing.
Presenter: Marcia Koenig.
Marcia Koenig: Good evening. I’m the parent of two students in the dual immersion program (Marcia) at Hamlin in Springfield. I understand that the district is facing difficult budget decisions, but there’s a huge difference between reducing staffing and dismantling a program.
Reducing FTE is like pruning branches from a tree. The tree may be smaller, but it remains alive and capable of growth. Eliminating a program cuts into the trunk itself. Once a program’s expertise, momentum, and community are lost, rebuilding can take years or may never happen at all.
And that’s why we’re all here tonight. What’s being proposed is not pruning. It’s dismantling the very structure of the program.
The most consistent support this program has had is parent advocacy. Through five superintendents and ever changing leadership, parents have attended meetings, written emails, organized events, helped shaped a master plan, recruited families, and we’ve repeatedly asked the district to invest in a program that it’s claimed to be a priority.
And here we are, one year before the program is expected to reach twelfth grade, families receive notice of a supposed restructuring and assurances that the district remains committed to dual.
We’ve heard this before. For the last ten years, our concerns about this program have been met with this same response, that this is a priority program for the district, we’ve been told.
And so when these same assurances accompany cuts that weaken the program, we don’t believe you. We don’t believe you. If this decision had been made with true understanding of dual immersion and its value, you would understand that learning Spanish is not the sole purpose of the program.
You would know that placing heritage speakers in traditional classes results in skills mismatch, and takes away from heritage students the opportunity to be leaders.
You would recognize that placing dual immersion with Spanish, replacing it with Spanish classes, or cultural elective or college courses that they can’t get to does not preserve dual immersion.
Finally, you would also have remembered that expanding this program was part of the district’s response after ODE flagged us for persistently low outcomes among English learners and then later cited as a contributor to the district’s improvement.
You see, this program was not an add on. It was part of the solution. So what a shame that Springfield cannot sustain a single dual immersion program, while more than one hundred and forty exist across Oregon, with some districts operating several even without additional funding.
Also, if there’s any high school where a strong dual immersion pathway should exist, it’s at Springfield High, which serves the largest Latino student population in our county.
So be honest about being lost here. I hope the board recognizes that this is not a staffing adjustment. It’s a decision that fundamentally changes our programs. And once you’ve made this cut, you can’t call it a dual immersion program anymore. You can’t tote it on your reader boards or elect to include it in your list of equity initiatives. Stop calling it restructuring, and please look for ways to prune the budget that doesn’t impact the tree of the dual program.
Nancy Bray: My name is Nancy Bray. I taught in Springfield School District from 1997 to 2009.
In 1999, with the changing demographics in Springfield, the district awarded me a sabbatical to go to the U of O to get the endorsement in English for speakers of other languages and to write the district English Language Development, or ELD plan.
When I returned from sabbatical, the district asked me to coordinate the ELD program as a teacher on special assignment. I worked with administrators, teachers, staff members, families, and community members, and together we created the program that is still in effect today.
As required by state and federal mandates, the program must teach English and ensure equal educational opportunity in the regular classroom. It’s the largest ELD program in Lane County, serving over 600 students.
From the very beginning, in 2000, we advocated for a Spanish-English dual immersion program. Research shows that this is the most effective way for students to learn to read and write in two languages for students whose native language is Spanish. That language is their strength, not their weakness.
If they learn content classroom content in Spanish while they are learning English, they transfer their skills to English more easily.
As new ELD and Spanish speaking students move into the district, the dual immersion program is a lifeline for them to build on the skills they already have as they transition to English. Students in this program receive the Oregon Seal of Biliteracy on their diplomas when they graduate from high school.
In 2014, the district made a commitment to establish a Spanish English dual immersion program that would add one grade level a year until it became a grade K-12 program.
We know that it takes more than the elementary years to become bilingual and biliterate. It must be a K-12 program to be effective.
By eliminating the middle and high school program, the district is breaking the commitment it made to the students, their families, district staff, and the community.
A decision of this magnitude must be transparent and include meaningful engagement with all who are impacted. Since 25% of the students enrolled in Springfield District are Latinx, this is a huge impact. The district needs to honor its commitment and the program needs to be supported and celebrated, not eliminated.
Rose Mary Villanueva: My name is Rose Mary Villanueva. I’m a retired teacher and an ELD teacher who taught here in Eugene.
Rene Ellis could not be here, but she asked me to read a few statements from her letter. I think some of the other speakers have already mentioned some of the benefits of dual language immersion, in this case Spanish dual language immersion program.
Rene says, ‘I know you already know these facts plus many more. And yet this valuable resource is now on the chopping block.
And so now what she is asking is, ‘I want to ask you why you chose this program for termination in spite of all these benefits you’ve been hearing?
‘Moreover, how can you justify eliminating it at the very point when students in this program after years of dedication and discipline, are entering the stage in their educational journey where they can begin to see the benefits of it and truly experience the rewards of their hard work?
‘What a terrible example this sets for students, that years of extra effort and hard work toward the very worthwhile goal can be thrown away so easily. What do you plan to tell these students? How do you explain that the goal they have committed themselves to for years apparently wasn’t all that important after all.
‘What an extraordinary and incomprehensible decision by adults who are supposed to model goal-oriented performance in academics. Pulling the rug out from under these students and their families with apparently scant little notice or opportunity for input, makes it even worse.
‘Parents deserve better. Students deserve better. I urge you to reconsider the decision to eliminate the dual language immersion program in Spanish. It is the greatest gift we can give our children to provide the opportunity to become truly proficient in their native languages, or a second language for other students.
‘There are zero downsides to this. None. It is good for them, for our communities, for our society to send them out into the world multilingual, truly multicultural.
‘Thank you. I urge you to go back to the drawing board and figure out a better option for saving money without the students in this program being victims of this decision.’
Presenter: Maetzi Contreras Martinez:
Maetzi Contreras Martinez: Hi. My name is Maetzi and this is my son. He is a Springfield High School student in the dual immersion since kindergarten.
I’m a parent and the reason why I’m here, I want—I have questions. I want to know the main reason why you guys are cutting this program. What is the reason? Why are you guys cutting their wings? Because they worked so hard to be where they at?
Some of us parents, including myself, I come from out of district. I decided to put him into this program because you guys promised us that they were going to continue until 12th grade.
And what’s happening? You guys just cut it off, like nothing, without thinking of their futures. I don’t think that would be fair.
I, as a parent, I drove my son multiple times to school, figure out child care pickups. When he went into middle school, he took the city bus because he has a dream. And you guys sitting there promising a future for them. You’re not accomplishing that by cutting down the program. How is that fair?
I wish you guys have a conscience to see that you’re cutting. Not just his future, but other ones. You see around, how many people are here to support us—because they know that each individual student who is here works so hard, and I don’t think it’s fair.
Really think about it. I’m pretty sure you guys are all parents, and one time you guys had kids and you guys want the best for your kids. Imagine if that one of your kids would be that kid who is in a dual program. That’s the reason why I’m here fighting for my kid.
It’s easy for me to go and be like, ‘Don’t worry, my son. I’ll take you to a different dual program. We’ll figure it out.’ But no, that’s being selfish because he’s not the only one here. Other students are here. Other parents are here fighting. You should really think about it.
How can we help as parents to continue this program? Nobody has come to us and told us, ‘Hey, this is the main reason.’ I guess if you guys are transparent to us and let us know, we’ll probably figure it out because we want the best for our kids. I’m pretty sure you guys want the same thing.
Or do you guys want to be the the first district of Oregon to cancel a program like this? Or support it? We all know, yes, we might have issues, but let’s find a solution for that issue. I want you guys to go home and think about that.
Sarah Ferren: My name is Sarah Ferren. I have been a Springfield resident for 24 years and a teacher in Springfield for 16 years.
As Springfield grapples with staffing cuts and a restructuring of our district leadership, I want to highlight a significant segment of our school community, our multilingual students, who will soon be without a leader at the district level.
And just to summarize, I’m here speaking about the ELD program, not the dual immersion.
The ELD program serves approximately 700 students in K-12. The instructional needs of multilingual learners are different from those of monolingual students. For newcomers, they’re learning to function in a new language. At the same time, they’re being taught academic content in that language.
For long-term English learners, they’re struggling to cross the line from social language to the high level of academic English needed to pass the state English proficiency test.
Multilingual learners spend the majority of their day with caring and professional general education teachers, but the district has not required or even offered training in sheltered instruction for those teachers in, I think at least 12 years. I don’t remember it at all since I’ve been hired here.
We need training for all teachers across subject areas and grade levels in scientifically proven methods of sheltered instruction. This is essentially how to teach the district-adopted curriculum in a way that supports the bilingual learning of students and consequently helps all students.
We need flexibility in curriculum, implementation and assessment. Most curriculum and assessments are normed on monolingual students, and we need time built into our schedule for the general ed teachers to consult and collaborate with language development specialists.
The ELD Department is accountable to the state for how we serve our multilingual students, and when we leave students in class to receive sheltered instruction, but do not provide training or collaboration time for educators.
We are failing in our responsibilities. Please take the unique needs of our students into consideration as you plan the future of our program and choose a leader who will champion multilingual learners and promote equitable and forward thinking practices across the district.
Guadalupe Anguiano: My name is Guadalupe Anguiano. I’m radio host of La Que Buena 97.7 FM radio station in Eugene. But today I’m here as a concerned parent, a parent of a nine-year-old, a third grader at Springfield dual immersion program at Guy Lee Elementary.
Like many families, we made long-term educational decisions based on the understanding that this pathway would continue through middle and high school. That’s what I thought.
And that is why I’m deeply disappointed to learn that the significant changes to the dual immersion program were being considered without communication, transparency, or opportunities for us parents for families to provide input before these decisions were made.
Families deserve to understand what data and analysis were used to support these decisions.
If our neighbor districts like Eugene 4J are facing similar financial enrollment challenges while maintaining their K-12 immersion pathway, why is Springfield choosing a different approach? I don’t understand.
I’m also concerned about how these changes will affect our students. Our dual immersion is not simply about learning another language. Students have spent years building academic skills, cultural connections, confidence, and a sense of belonging within this program, and disrupting that pathway may impact the students’ engagement, limit opportunities to earn the seal of biliteracy, and cause families to seek education options in other districts like Eugene.
Our children invested years into this program, and families have planned their futures around the commitment that were made, the promises that were that were made to us.
When we enroll our kids in this program, our youth already has to worry about discrimination, about ICE taking our community members, our family members. Now they have to worry about their education.
I respectfully ask this district to pause these changes publicly, share the data used to justify these decisions, and create a process that includes meaningful input from parents, students, and educators before moving forward.
Our children’s education matter, our teachers matter, and our Springfield schools matter. And shout out to all the students right now, right here. My respects for being here today and fighting for your education. Keep fighting and don’t give up.
Board members, please honor the commitment made to these families and keep the dual immersion pathway for current and future students, please.
Kriscia Rivas: Hey there. My name is Kriscia. I’m a daughter of Salvadoran immigrants, a first-generation student, and next year I graduate with my doctorate in pharmacy.
I was born here in Springfield and I’ve lived here ever since. Today I’ll be talking about the Springfield dual immersion program and how important it is to our community.
The first thing I wanted to share is that being bilingual has made me a better health care professional. When people talk about dual immersion programs, to some folks, that can mean simply learning new languages. But for a lot of us, it’s much, much bigger than that.
In health care, communication is extremely critical. Being able to speak the patients’ languages helps keep them safe and lets them trust our help.
For me, speaking Spanish also lets me connect my culture to my profession. I don’t have to leave a part of myself at the door when I go to work. I can use it to help people. I can communicate with families who might otherwise really struggle to navigate the health care system. And this is something that I’m really proud of.
Today, I think about the students who have already spent so many years in these Springfield programs, students who have been able to learn more about their own cultures at school, students who have been able to learn brand-new cultures. These students have put in the work to be bilingual and bicultural all these years, and all of their progress is being ripped away from them.
I’m asking this board to please consider that bilingualism helps kids form their futures. These programs are exactly the kinds of opportunities that we should be expanding for our students, not taking away. I hope you’ll consider what is being lost here. This incredibly important means of our community’s growth.
I hope you can understand what it feels like to us for our own community of Springfield to be one of the only districts in Oregon to take dual immersion away from the kids.
Johanis Tadeo: My name is Johanis Tadeo. I’m a Springfield graduate, parent, community organizer for SAFER, and someone who has spent years working alongside students, families, educators and this district.
I want to start with a question. How can Springfield Public Schools say it’s committed to reaching every student everyday, when the program’s teachers and educational assistants are being cut increasingly reflect the students who make up the significant portion of our district.
Latino students represent approximately 25%-27% of the Springfield student population. Yet we are watching cuts, impact programs and staff that directly supports bilingual students, multilingual students, and families who have invested years into the district. The district has cited enrollment numbers as a reason for these changes, but enrollment does not happen on its own.
The district controls recruitment, outreach, access to program scheduling, and overall the structure of the program. The district cannot point to enrollment numbers without also taking responsibility for the decisions that shape those numbers.
The district says that the secondary dual immersion program is not being eliminated. But if students are losing dual immersion humanities courses and seeing their pathway replaced with traditional Spanish classes, then the educational experience they signed up for is fundamentally changing.
A Spanish class is not the same as a dual immersion class. Dual immersion is about learning academic content through two languages. It’s about developing bilingualism, biliteracy, cultural competency, and preparing students to succeed in an increasing diverse world.
What makes this especially difficult is that the current juniors are expected to become the first senior class to complete, and Springfield’s dual immersion pathway, after years of hard work and commitment, they should be celebrating this achievement, not watching the program they helped build be reduced just as they reach the finish line.
What concerns me just as much as the cuts themselves is the process. Families, students and educators were not meaningfully engaged before the decisions were made. The people most impacted were informed after the fact.
A decision that fundamentally alters Springfield K-12 dual immersion pathway should be discussed openly with the Board of Education and the community. Families deserve transparency about how this decision was made, what alternatives were considered, what role of the Board of Education played in reviewing these changes, and why families were not included sooner in the process.
Tonight I ask you to listen to the students, the families, the educators. Ask yourself what message this sends to our Latino community and multilingual students at the time when districts across Oregon are working to expand multilingual education.
Springfield is the only district that’s moving in the opposite direction and cutting. We should be strengthening opportunities for bilingual students and not reducing them. You still have an opportunity to change the course. You still have an opportunity to rebuild trust.
I ask you to pause these cuts, release the data used to justify them, and work with the community to preserve a meaningful secondary dual immersion pathway. Because this is a gem. Because once a program like this is dismantled, it’s much harder to rebuild than it is to protect.
Dr. Krystal Sundstrom: My name is Dr. Krystal Sundstrom. I am a soon-to-be former Springfield Public Schools employee. Until last year, I served as the district’s elementary dual immersion program coordinator, but that position was eliminated due to budget cuts.
I currently teach English Language Development, or ELD, at Springfield High School, including to our newcomer and recent arrival students. I’m also the proud parent of two Springfield graduates.
Tonight, I want to speak about equity and more specifically, access to linguistic inclusion. In 2021, Oregon passed House Bill 2056, known as the Access to Linguistic Inclusion Act.
The purpose of this law was clear: to remove structural barriers that multilingual students face and to recognize that meaningful academic learning can occur in multiple languages.
The law specifically acknowledges that multilingual students should have pathways to earn required graduation credits while building on their linguistic strengths, not despite them.
In my current position, I work with newcomer students who are learning a new language while simultaneously trying to earn enough credits to graduate high school. Many arrive credit-deficient, through no fault of their own, due to interrupted formal education or limited access to secondary public schools in their home countries.
They are navigating a new school system, a new culture, and a new language all at once. HB 2056 was designed to help reduce those barriers by allowing districts to offer courses and credit pathways that honor students’ home languages and multilingual abilities.
Oregon’s guidance explicitly states that the law was again intended to remove structural barriers to graduation and to expand opportunities for multilingual learners. Our secondary dual immersion program does exactly that.
But by eliminating the middle school and high school dual immersion teaching positions and courses, we are not expanding opportunities for multilingual students. We are reducing them. We are removing one of the very pathways that Oregon created to support student success.
I also urge the board to look carefully at the enrollment data being cited to justify this decision. As Johanis Tadeo mentioned, enrollment does not exist in a vacuum. Over the years, decisions were made that limited access to the secondary program for some multilingual students, including newcomers and recent arrivals.
When access is restricted, participation inevitably declines. We should be cautious about using enrollment numbers as evidence against a program, when those numbers may themselves be the result of policy decisions, rather than a lack of student and family interest.
Our multilingual students already face enough barriers. The question before us is whether Springfield will continue to remove barriers as Oregon intended, or create new ones. I urge you to reconsider the elimination of the secondary dual immersion program and preserve these important pathways for our students.
Presenter: Public comments June 8 ask the Springfield School District to reconsider cutting the dual immersion program.
Field recordings by John Duran and shared with KEPW 97.3 – Whole Community News.
