Forest Lake School's V.S. Moundsview Schools (Duluth, Mounds View: neighborhood, best schools)

[angelsaaaa]

Hello,
I am in a quandary. I have four girls 9,7,5, and 2. We live in Forest Lake and my girls go to a Spanish Immersion School here. It is a fairly new school and my girls are struggling with English reading, spelling and math. This is to be expected in a Spanish Immersion program but, my worries are that they are not going to "catch up" to their English speaking counterparts. In addition, I have seen the junior higher s and senior higher s in Forest Lake - I am NOT impressed. The school does not have high scores - I have seen many good kids in our neighborhood go BAD.. in the junior and senior high. I have the opportunity to have my children go to Turtle Lake Elementary and then to Chippewa and Moundsview. Does anyone have children in these schools? Is it worth my switching venues at this point? I do like that they are bilingual but, want to make sure that they are getting a good English education as well as that the Junior High and Senior High are going to be great schools. Thanks in advance for any input.

[golfgal]

Mounds View is one of the top rated districts in the state. If you can open enroll your kids there I would do that. I have to agree about the Forest Lake schools, pretty town but not the best schools.

[djaq87]

In Superior WI we are facing the possibility of an Spanish immersion school in our district. Last night there was a school board meeting with a guest speaker Tara Fortune. She is a Immersion Projects Coordinator for the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition. She was boring, she didn't give us any information that was useful. Just a lot of research notes. There are some parents that are losing their school for this. For the handful of students. Not only that but 2 other schools are to take the students that don't sign up for the immersion school. Creating an over flow. Currently we have SAGE program that is to keep the class room numbers down 15-1. Yes there are some that are not meeting the requirements of that program, having too many students per room. Why not fix this problem? Rather they want to add expenses to the tax payers for an immersion school. Our region doesn't have the high population of Spanish people. To many of my fellow parents we just don't see a need for it. Our children need to learn English first.

[Immersionmom]

I have 2 children in the Forest Lake Immersion School (LILA) and have found it to be a perfect fit for our family. Studies do show that immersion children will lag behind in early (English) testing and will overall test poorly in spelling but then will surpass their monolingual peers. In my opininion (take or leave), it would be a mistake to pull them out of Spanish school now, being they are in the "lag behind in English portion" of their immersion school, adding an unnecessary and stressful change. There is another Charter School in Forest Lake, North Lakes Academy, which will expand through the high school years. Check it out as an option, the curriculum is heavy in the Arts and college prep. I have been impressed with the continuing Spanish plan through Southwest Junior High. I beleive that when our Spanish Immersion School children reach junior high/high school, with them will come a powerful force of dedicated, involved and passionate parents. I personally will look forward to being part of the solution to a school who for many years has recieved a poor reputation. Good luck in your decision. It is obvious you are an involved parent and that your girls will do well in their academic careers where ever they end up.

Originally Posted by angelsaaaa

Hello,
I am in a quandary. I have four girls 9,7,5, and 2. We live in Forest Lake and my girls go to a Spanish Immersion School here. It is a fairly new school and my girls are struggling with English reading, spelling and math. This is to be expected in a Spanish Immersion program but, my worries are that they are not going to "catch up" to their English speaking counterparts. In addition, I have seen the junior higher s and senior higher s in Forest Lake - I am NOT impressed. The school does not have high scores - I have seen many good kids in our neighborhood go BAD.. in the junior and senior high. I have the opportunity to have my children go to Turtle Lake Elementary and then to Chippewa and Moundsview. Does anyone have children in these schools? Is it worth my switching venues at this point? I do like that they are bilingual but, want to make sure that they are getting a good English education as well as that the Junior High and Senior High are going to be great schools. Thanks in advance for any input.

[Immersionmom]

3 years ago Forest Lake residents were also protesting a Spanish immersion school, mostly because they truly did not understand the the full spectrum of it's benefits. The 831 School District (Forest Lake, MN) turned down the Spanish immersion option, a few dedicated parents pushed forward to create the charter school that is now, Lakes International Language Academy (LILA). The 831 School District now openly admits their mistake. A few short years later the wating list to get into LILA continues to grow. Why not tap into those parts of a child's brain that are so wide open when your young? Learning a foriegn language when your young is so much easier than later on in life. Not having any foreign language experience greatly affected my college life at the College of St Scholastica, Duluth, MN (which geographically is across the border of Superior, WI). One does not need to be in a Spanish speaking region to benefit from learning a second language. It is an incredible educational opportunity for the children of your region. Take some time to fully understand it.

Originally Posted by djaq87

In Superior WI we are facing the possibility of an Spanish immersion school in our district. Last night there was a school board meeting with a guest speaker Tara Fortune. She is a Immersion Projects Coordinator for the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition. She was boring, she didn't give us any information that was useful. Just a lot of research notes. There are some parents that are losing their school for this. For the handful of students. Not only that but 2 other schools are to take the students that don't sign up for the immersion school. Creating an over flow. Currently we have SAGE program that is to keep the class room numbers down 15-1. Yes there are some that are not meeting the requirements of that program, having too many students per room. Why not fix this problem? Rather they want to add expenses to the tax payers for an immersion school. Our region doesn't have the high population of Spanish people. To many of my fellow parents we just don't see a need for it. Our children need to learn English first.