Declining enrollment may affect Spanish immersion program 

As student enrollment declines at Menlo Park City School District, administrators are pushing to maintain programs such as Spanish immersion in its classrooms. During a school board meeting on March 6, Superintendent Kristen Gracia and Tami Girsky, coordinator of world language and Spanish immersion, presented board members with the current state of language programs at its schools.

Spanish immersion was introduced to the district in 2008 in two kindergarten classrooms and 48 students at Encinal Elementary School. In the 2024-25 school year, the program has grown to incorporate kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms at Encinal and Laurel School’s Lower Campus with over 500 immersion students. 

The goal of the program is to encourage bilingualism, biliteracy and multicultural competence. 

Menlo Park City School District’s immersion model provides 90% of learning in Spanish and 10% in English starting in kindergarten. As students progress through grades, the percentage shifts to balance Spanish and English learning, to eventually reach a 50/50 model by fifth grade, said Girsky,

Data from the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress test from the 2023-24 school year shows the majority of students in the immersion program either met or exceeded state standards in English and math. 

The Assessment of Performance toward Proficiency in Languages test that is taken in the sixth grade measured that students who were in the immersion program were mostly at an intermediate level in speaking, writing, listening and reading in Spanish. 

As of the 2024-25 school year, 40% of Encinal and Laurel classrooms are Spanish immersion, according to Gracia.

“As our enrollment declines, we adjust the number of strands and classes we run in both English and Spanish accordingly,” Gracia said. “Up until now, we have prioritized efforts to meet the demand for Spanish immersion.”

Declining enrollment numbers are becoming a concern for school administrators as it would affect the ratio of Spanish immersion and English classrooms available for students, leading to more rigid circumstances for student placements, according to Gracia. 

“With a smaller number (of students), we have less flexibility,” she added.

Gracia explained to the board that adjustments made in response to enrollment shifts will also inadvertently impact student experiences and create an imbalance of demographic, needs and resources between programs.

As of fall 2024, the school district has nearly 2,700 students enrolled. The numbers have fallen since 2016, when there were about 3,000 students in the district.

With low enrollment in consideration, Gracia told the board that there may have to be fewer Spanish immersion classrooms and a reconsideration of the number of students placed into language programs. Her recommendation to the board is to no longer only prioritize the demand on Spanish immersion to decide on how many classrooms are in the program but rather consider the various factors of enrollment rate, staffing and resources. 

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