[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: RSI: Asset or Liability?

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
RSI: Asset or Liability?
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1236319521.shtml


   It seems a good time to bring this up. The District 281 school
   closings have been decided but much of the community feedback from
   that process involved RSI, the Robbinsdale Spanish Immersion program.
   Currently, this is a K-8 offering at the Robbinsdale Area Learning
   Campus (RALC). The K-5 portion is moving to the repurposed Sunny
   Hollow building. The 6-8 portion, as I understand it, merges into the
   two remaining middle schools with some advanced RSI specific courses.
   Critics said that this is not full immersion. The Administration has
   pointed out that the current environment isn't pure now, given a
   certain amount of interaction with the Robbinsdale Middle School (RMS)
   operation co-located at the RALC building. There is only one
   cafeteria, auditorium, parking lot, and so on.
   RSI goes back many years in the Robbinsdale Area Schools. I believe it
   is the second oldest such program in the Twin Cities. A fair question
   is therefore: is it still a valid concept? Do the original premises
   still apply? One I remember (I've lived in 281 for 25 years) was that
   fluency in Spanish would be a valuable job skill. It's the other main
   language of the Western Hemisphere. Few then foresaw the rise of the
   Pacific Rim.
   So, is it a valuable job skill today? Maybe not, for another change
   has the been the rise of the immigrant (and illegal alien) population
   that speaks Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and many other Languages. Maybe
   the academic experience of being bilingual has its own rewards
   regardless.
   The critics charged that RSI is an elitist program. For openers,
   there's a waiting list in the form of a lottery to get in. Despite
   what Superintendent Mack said, it is not open to everyone. Then
   there's the matter of the free bus transportation that some claimed
   was also unfair when other intra-District transfers are not bussed. Is
   that all RSI is, an intra-District transfer, for the lucky? Or is RSI
   also seen as an escape from the average Robbinsdale experience, like
   moving up from Coach to First Class on an airline flight?
   Is RSI free? Of course not. No specialized program can be, especially
   one that has dedicated facilities, including busing. In an environment
   where we can't even understand the existing finances very well it's
   hard to say what that cost is. Academically, would a "plain" District
   281 with 9 elementary schools instead of 8 be better overall?
   So, what is RSI in the 21^st century? A valuable signature program?
   Popular but not always for the right reasons? Clearly worth the added
   expense to the District? Unfair given the lottery and set-asides
   system to get in? Or has it now simply become an anachronism?