 | Public Chinese immersion school to open in S.B. |
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Applications due by Feb. 6 BY JENNIFER BOOTON SOUTH BRUNSWICK — A new regional public charter school that will immerse students in Mandarin Chinese is scheduled to open in the South Brunswick school district this September. The full-immersion public school will be the first of its kind in the state. The Princeton International Academy Charter School (PIACS), recently approved by the New Jersey Department of Education, will open for the 2010-11 school year for the South Brunswick, Princeton Regional, and West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional school districts. Although a location has not yet been finalized, it will most likely be centralized between the three districts, according to Parker Block, school spokesperson. Three districts were chosen as opposed to one in order to alleviate some budgetary pressures on the districts, each of which has to allocate some funds to the charter school. The school will operate on those funds and will also use private fundraising and donations. The school, which will fully immerse students in the Mandarin language, will open its doors in September for grades kindergarten through second with an approximate enrollment of 170 students. Each year another grade will be added, until fifth grade and an enrollment 290 is reached. Once the charter school is renewed, it may span through the eighth grade, according to Block. PIACS will be the first public school in the state to teach students through Mandarin English dual-language immersion and the first in the greater Princeton area to educate students through the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum framework. Although PIACS is not a certified IB school at this time, it is working to attain official authorization, a process that takes three to five years. The IB framework gathers various teaching methods used across the globe to help students adapt to a rapidly globalizing world and has proved to achieve higher standards compared to other forms of education, according to Block. IB mixes concepts with facts, which helps students retain information more easily, he said. “It’s looking internationally at the best ways to teach,” he said. “We would adopt standards and practices that are really the best around the world.” Students at PIACS will use the math curricula of Singapore, which has been proven to produce high scores, according to Block. The school will also meet core curriculum standards for New Jersey, Block said. Despite the complexity of the Chinese language for non-native speakers, children are able to quickly adapt to the language in a full immersion program, according to Block. All classes will be taught in Mandarin during the child’s first year and then about 10 percent English will be added each simultaneous year until the classes are split between English and Mandarin by the fifth grade. “Kids at that age have very malleable brains. They don’t think of a language as being a language, they just think of it as words and objects,” Block said. “You can’t just learn Chinese in high school the same way as other languages, so if we want kids to become fluent in Mandarin, we have to find an innovative way to do that.” Some parents have expressed concerns as to whether the full-immersion program would hinder a child’s ability to speak proper English, Block said. Although there is a slight lag initially, he said, the child catches up very quickly, and by the fifth grade the child’s English skills are on par with other children. The charter school adds to what the three districts already have to offer by preparing students with a specific set of skills that will enable them to excel in a continuously globalizing 21st century, according to Block. “These are all good school districts. Charter schools can serve a purpose of bringing innovation and higher standards to school districts that are already functioning very well,” Block said. “But standards can be raised.” Chinese in particular is an important language to learn, he added, because China is rapidly emerging as a global power. “These are children that are going to be graduating in 2025, when the largest economy in the world is going to be China, not the U.S., and a lot of opportunities are going to be related to Chinese companies,” he said. The school is public and open to any child from the three school districts. Block also noted that the school embraces diversity and is open to all ethnic, racial, cultural and linguistic identities. “It’s not a school that’s by Chinese for Chinese; the founders come from different ethnicities, and the whole purpose of school is to have a very diverse student [body],” he said. The school’s 12 founders chose to open a public rather than private school to give all students an equal opportunity to learn the language, according to Block. “We basically felt that it was unfortunate that people who couldn’t afford a private school education didn’t have the opportunity to achieve fluency in Mandarin,” he said. “And they wouldn’t have the opportunity to really go into the world with the same opportunities that the kids in the private school had.” The Department of Education gave the school founders authorization last week to move forward with final preparations. Once all requirements are met, the school will attain final authorization to operate. “The official go-ahead to open the school only comes once we have everything in place, including, enrollment, building, staff and board,” Block said. “We need to show we are ready to open in September.” But Block said school officials do not expect delays and plan to open on time. Applications can be submitted through Feb. 6. Interested parents can fill out the online application at the website PIACS.org. “It doesn’t hurt to apply — there’s no commitment, no money down — so if you want to beat that deadline, you can always withdraw if you find out later there’s something about the school you’re uncomfortable with,” Block said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to get in early on a charter school.” Once students are admitted, they will have 30 days to make their final decision. If there are an excessive number of applicants, enrollment will be chosen using a lottery system. If there are not enough applicants, a new application deadline will be set. An information session will be held at the South Brunswick Public Library at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 6 for anyone who would like to acquire additional information. Contact Jennifer Booton at jbooton@gmnews.com. |