| Floris
Could Lose Japanese Program |
By Erin E. Fogg 
Observer Staff Writer |
| Floris Elementary School, like many Fairfax County schools,
has a family environment despite being a bit crowded. While
residential construction in the area swells and students come
and go, Floris keeps a tight-knit community. |
| Parents, administrators and students agree that the school's
Japanese immersion program is partially responsible for what
makes Floris special. |
| But the community could be in jeopardy if the county decides
to transfer the Floris program to Fox Mill Elementary School
because of low enrollment and other issues. |
| Floris Principal Karen Siple said 123 students in grades
1 through 6 are in the Japanese program. There are 840 students
in the school, including kindergarten. |
| "If transfer is selected then the effect is with the 2006-2007
school year," she said. "Anyone currently in the program or
joining in the fall will be able to stay at Floris." |
| Paula Patrick, the county school system's foreign language
coordinator, said Floris has consistently had just enough
students to support one first grade class, which leads to
difficulties in later grades when students move away or drop
out of the program. The foreign language department has been
closely monitoring Floris' enrollment for years. |
| "It's not like this is a revelation that's just hit us,"
she said. "We've been looking at this for five or six years." |
| Patrick said learning a foreign language earlier in life
has countless benefits. "You develop near-native pronunciation
and your listening and comprehension skills are tuned," she
said. "It also opens up your perspective of different cultures." |
| Patrick said that while no particular class size is ideal
for learning in an immersion environment, numbers in the 20's
are best. "We have so much success with all our immersion
programs in a variety of class sizes so we' don't have a particular
number that we shoot for," she said. |
| But since immersion students learn math, science and health
with one teacher and then join other non-immersion classes
for language arts and social studies, swelling class size
becomes a concern. |
| "It puts students not in immersion at over capacity," she
said. "That's where some of the budget issues come in when
extra staff are needed to balance out the immersion program." |
| Enrollment figures support only one first grade Japanese
class at Floris each year, but Fox Mill has two. However,
both schools struggle with fluctuations in class sizes. |
| Patrick said transferring Floris' program to Fox Mill could
create three healthy first grade Japanese immersion classes.
The success of such a setup has been proven at Kent Garden
Elementary School in McLean, a French immersion school. |
| Kent Garden has 75 students in three first grade immersion
classes, she said. But in third grade, there are 53 students
in the program,making up two good-sized classes. |
| "This would give us more flexibility so that we'd be able
to sustain a nice size program at one school instead of three
small classes in two schools," she said. |
| Enrollment issues are not unique to Floris, Patrick said.
The other Japanese elementary school is Great Falls, which
also has problems likely due to having just one first grade
class. |
| But merging Floris with Fox Mill's program was considered
because of the schools' proximity. |
| Judy Pilcher, a Floris parent, helped her 7-year-old son
Trent write a letter to The Observer to say he was upset about
the possibility of the program transferring to Fox Mill. |
| Pilcher said she is worried about the future of the program
even though Trent would be allowed to stay at Floris since
he joined the immersion program this school year. |
| "The county says he won't be affected because he'll be grandfathered,"
she said. "But say in three more years when he's in fourth
grade and there's just a few kids in the class left, is he
guaranteed a spot at Fox Mill?" |
| Betsy Goodman, assistant superintendent for Floris, Fox
Mill and other schools in the system's cluster 8, said the
county has been watching immersion enrollment at Floris and
Fox Mill and is considering how the schools' resources are
being used. |
| In this school year, she said Floris had 27 first-grade
immersion students while Fox Mill had 43. But when it came
to sixth grade, Floris had 13 students and Fox Mill had 27. |
| "In order to maintain the strength of the program it makes
sense to combine these two programs," Goodman said. |
| If finalized, the transfer of the Japanese program to Fox
Mill would have an effect on the atmosphere at Floris, she
admitted. |
| "We do support the program, it's a wonderful program," Goodman
said. "It's just that we have to look at resources for all
of our schools." |
| While enrollment concerns, teacher to student ratios, and
staff requirements are issues near the top of the list, Goodman
said financial benefits to the transfer are also under consideration. |
| "I do believe there would be some cost savings but I cannot
say whether or not they are significant enough," she said. |
| The community will have a few more public discussion sessions
on the immersion program to discuss alternatives and other
concerns, she said. While she expects making her recommendation
on the issue sometime during the summer months, it could be
postponed if the meetings continue to be well involved and
generating additional ideas. |
| Once Goodman makes a recommendation, the county schools
superintendent will make a final decision, currently projected
to be in October. |
| Pilcher said she is unsure what her family will choose to
do, although she believes Trent should make the decision. |
| "He would be sad to leave Floris," she said. "But if it
seems to be lacking in enthusiasm we might move him to Fox
Mill. If it's something he's committed to and wants to keep
doing it, we need to know that he'll have a place whether
it be at Floris or Fox Mill." |
| One option parents and administrators are looking to replace
the immersion program at Floris with is the Foreign Language
in Elementary Schools, or FLES, program. In this program,
all students in a school receive language experience as teachers
provide about 30 minutes of instruction two to three times
per week. |
| With the FLES model, language teachers join other subject
teachers so language instruction supports concepts taught
in other subject areas. |
| Five county schools already use the FLES model in Latin,
French, Spanish and Italian languages. |
| "Language is acquired much easier when it's connected to
the content," Patrick said. |
| For instance, when students are learning about time zones
during a social studies class, the Spanish instructor would
reinforce the concepts by incorporating instruction on how
to tell time in Spanish. |
| Discussion and information meetings are scheduled at Floris
on Wednesday, May 4 and Monday, May 16 at 9 a.m. A larger,
wrap-up meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 8 at 7 p.m.
For more information, call the cluster office at 703-246-6510. |
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