Merced County’s language immersion program cut. Did MCOE do enough to boost enrollment?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Parents said they got no prior notice, limited outreach, and an untranslated message.
- A parent’s interest form quickly drew 69 responses showing potential enrollees.
- MCOE cited an almost $1M deficit tied to funding based on average daily attendance.
Parents of children in Merced’s program say they were blindsided by the announcement last week that the school would be closing at the end of the current school year.
The program — known as the Dual Language Academy — opened in 2022 and is part of the Merced Scholar’s Charter School run by the Merced County Office of Education.
The message families received via the communication app ParentSquare on Jan. 27 explained the school closure with the following statement: “Merced COE and the Dual Language Academy have navigated shifting enrollment patterns, and the budget uncertainty creates uncertain long-term stability for some programs, which, unfortunately, includes the Dual Language Academy.”
“I feel betrayed. I’ve been with MCOE for 20 and a half years,” said Enrique Altamirano, a longtime employee of the district and whose daughter is in transitional kindergarten at the Dual Language Academy.
Altamirano said he’s been happy with his daughter’s schooling in the program, but her shyness and history of being bullied make him anxious about transferring schools.
MCOE cites low enrollment as major budget problem
At a parent meeting last week, representatives from MCOE presented additional information.
Laura Andrews, assistant superintendent of educational services, said the school tried to increase enrollment to “make this program solvent,” but that despite those efforts the program was operating at a deficit of almost a million dollars.
The presentation included a table showing the deficit, which was based on the cost to operate the program and the funding it receives based on average daily attendance.
Families say they were never told about the enrollment issues and do not believe the administration made adequate attempts to solve the problem in other ways before deciding to close the school.
“We had no idea that was happening, OK?,” said Miranda Griswold, the mother of two children in the Dual Language Academy, “They sent us a parent square (message) on Tuesday of last week. That was the first thing we’d ever heard.”
Griswold said she has felt angry and overwhelmed since the notice went out. On top of everything else, she noted, “They didn’t even translate it to Spanish, (which) actually makes me angry, because we do have parents that are only Spanish speaking at our school.”
In a follow-up communication from Tara Hill, director of student programs for Valley Community Schools, the lack of Spanish translation was described as an “oversight” and a translation was provided.
Celina Garcia, whose daughter is in kindergarten at the Dual Language Academy and who serves on the school’s Parent Advisory Committee, said she also had no idea about the low enrollment issue.
Parents say MCOE didn’t do enough
Altamirano, Garcia, and Griswold all expressed skepticism that the administration had done everything in its power to raise enrollment numbers.
Garcia is a realtor and she heard about the school through her broker and believed most parents learned about the school through word of mouth. Other than that, the only advertisement she had seen was on banners hung throughout the county.
A review of the MCOE’s Instagram page shows only two posts related to the DLI program since the Fall 2024, both of which referenced the Hmong immersion program, rather than the Spanish language program.
In contrast, the Merced City School District — which offers a dual language program at Stowell Elementary School — had at least four Instagram posts encouraging parents to enroll their children in the past year.
“MCOE has a PR person…they have a communication team,” said Altamirano who has worked at MCOE for more than two decades. A spokesperson for MCOE said it also placed ads at the DMV and on local radio stations.
Altamirano said he felt the school should have given parents a probationary period to mobilize and try to increase enrollment.
Parents push to ‘save the school’
“If I would’ve known then what I know now, I would have been fighting more,” said Griswold.
She said she believes there are families who want to enroll their children, but don’t know how.
After the parent meeting with the district, Griswold launched her own enrollment interest form to prove there were families that would enroll if they knew about the program.
Since the Google form was shared on Jan. 30, she’s already received 69 responses, including several from families with multiple children.
“They love their school,” Griswold said of her sons, “And when we first got this notice, they were like, ‘Mom, did you know the school is closing? Like, what are we going to do?’... And I told them, “I don’t want you to worry about that yet, because we’re going to fight for your school.”
When asked whether the decision to close the school is final, Nathan Quevado, communications and public relations officer for MCOE said, “We’re taking a look at many options on how we can continue to serve students.”
The Merced City School District will host a “DLI Parent Information Meeting” at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Rudolph Rivera Elementary at 945 Buena Vista Dr.
