Rock Hill parents favor language immersion elementary school

More than half of parents and other members of the public who responded to a survey on Rock Hill school choice favor a new language immersion elementary school over a foreign language immersion academy at Sullivan Middle School.

The survey, released last week during a Rock Hill school board workshop, had 471 responses from the public as well as the 29 members of a school choice committee and 21 principals.

Fifty-five percent favored consolidating language immersion programs at Rosewood, Ebinport and Richmond Drive elementary schools at a new language school. Forty-five percent support creating an immersion academy by adding onto Sullivan.

Members of the choice committee and principals saw things differently.

Sixty-nine percent of choice committee members and 52 percent of principals support the Sullivan academy; 31 percent of committee members and 48 percent of principals support a new kindergarten-to-fifth-grade school for language immersion.

Neither site would be ready before fall 2018, officials said.

The survey also polled groups about bus transportation for choice programs and options for the Montessori program at Sylvia Circle Elementary.

During the workshop, the board heard preliminary plans for an addition at Sullivan for the elementary language immersion program and an addition at Ebenezer Academy Elementary School for students from the Montessori program.

Montessori is an educational method of education based on self-directed activity, hands-on learning and collaborative play. In Montessori classrooms children make creative choices in their learning, while the classroom and the teacher offer age-appropriate activities to guide the process.

The board briefly discussed the future of Montessori.

Superintendent Kelly Pew said Montessori enrollment has been low, particularly in preschool classes where parents pay to enroll. She said there are about 150 Montessori students at Sylvia Circle in kindergarten to second grade.

Board chairman Jim Vining questioned whether the Montessori program should continue. “The demand for Montessori is not there right now,” he said.

Board member Helena Miller said the district has made a commitment to students in Montessori and that 150 students should be enough.

Pew is expected to bring costs and other details back to the board, and a vote on possible changes to the schools’ choice programs could come as early as Feb. 22. Several board members questioned if the rapid timing for making such a decision is realistic.

Other survey results:

▪  Language immersion options: Sixty percent of the public, 79 percent of committee members and 45 percent of principals did not support other options for language immersion.

Those options, Pew said, included basing the program at another elementary school and moving non-immersion students to other schools, or centralizing the program at Ebinport or Richmond Drive and moving non-immersion students to the other school.

Pew said she didn’t seriously consider either option because they would involve moving a large number of students and the immersion school would have more than 800 students.

▪  For the Montessori program: 73 percent of the public and choice committee members and 66 percent of principals support moving the program to a new building at Ebenezer Avenuue.

Twenty-seven percent of the public and choice committee members and 33 percent of principals support moving the younger, 3-year-old to second-grade Montessori students to the Central Child Development Center.

Under that option, students in the 4-year-old program at CDCC would attend schools they were zoned for. The preschool program would no longer be consolidated.

Students in third-to-fifth-grade Montessori would move to Ebenezer Avenue for an “inquiry-based” program that would include some elements of Montessori, Pew proposed. She has said the program needs to change at that level as teachers need to make sure students meet state education standards.

Pew said she wants to move the Montessori program from Sylvia Circle next fall to create space for the Head Start program, now at the Edgewood Center.

She said the district needs to spend at least $1 million on the Edgewood building to continue using it. Pew said she wants to move out of the building and sell it.

District leaders said the $1 million would fund work on the Edgewood roof, HVAC system and flooring. The cost to bring Edgewood up to the standard of other school buildings would be much higher, they said.

“We’re literally on a day-by-day basis (at Edgewood),” Pew said. She said the Rock Hill district partners with the federally funded Head Start program, providing classroom space for $1 a year.

Pew said it would cost more to bring the Edgewood building up to typical school building standards than to build an addition for Montessori students at Ebenezer Avenue.

Several board members were concerned about the proposal to split older and younger Montessori students between the CCDC and Ebenezer Avenue.

▪  Bus transportation: Fifty-nine percent of the public, 65 percent of committee members and 90 percent of principals said bus transportation for choice programs should be a priority.

Pew has said she believes the district could offer transportation, though she said the exact cost won’t be known until enrollment for choice programs takes place.

This story was originally published January 16, 2016 at 7:44 PM with the headline "Rock Hill parents favor language immersion elementary school."