LTUSD expanding two-way immersion program

The class of 2019 is dictating, to some extent, the curriculum that is being offered in Lake Tahoe Unified School District.

Some of today’s fifth-graders back in 2007 were the first two-way immersion class at Bijou Community School.

What started as a parent movement led by Kathy Haven turned into a much sought-after program. Parents have since lined up to get their child enrolled in the program that has a goal of teaching students in Spanish and English.

But when it started it was just supposed to be a Bijou offering. Since the inception of the program there have been 11 TWI classes.

On March 12, the school board voted to expand the program to South Tahoe Middle and High schools. The first class will be in middle school in the fall.

To expand the program a teacher will need to be hired to teach a social science class in Spanish. In the following two years a native Spanish 1 class will be added at STMS.

At the high school by the time these students arrive there will be several course offerings taught in the TWI format for lab science, history-social science, and visual and performing arts.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report