Frank Porter Graham Elementary reopens as bilingual school

Students can finally say “Hola!” to a bilingual magnet elementary school when Frank Porter Graham Elementary School reopens today as Frank Porter Graham Bilingue School.

Students at the bilingual school speak and are taught in both English and Spanish.

“The goal for the school is for all students to be bilingual, biliterate and multicultural,” said Principal Emily Bivins.

Bivins said the 525 students who will attend the school were chosen by a random lottery.

She said the school will include a fixed ratio of native English speakers and native Spanish speakers.

Native English-speaking students were eligible to apply for kindergarten through first grade.

Native Spanish-speaking students, or students previously enrolled in a dual language program, were eligible to apply for kindergarten through fifth grade, Bivins said.

“I think it’s going to be an exciting opportunity for kids and families in our school district,” she said. “For a small school district, I think this is pretty significant.”

Jeffrey Nash, spokesman for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, said the school district wanted to consolidate its dual language programs and increase the number of students served.

“We’ve had a bilingual program in the district for a while now so this is an extension of that,” he said.

Until this year, the Spanish-English dual language program was available to students at FPG, Carrboro Elementary School and Mary Scroggs Elementary School.

Bivins said concentrating a lot of the bilingual resources in one school will help the district improve the program.

“It’s hard enough to have to hire those resources,” she said.

“To hire for three schools would be quite taxing.”

Carrboro Elementary School will still have a dual language program serving 250 students.

Bivins said all of the teachers who worked at FPG before this year either kept a job at the school or were transferred to others in the district.

Students who previously attended FPG but did not get into the magnet school will attend other elementaries in the area, including the district’s newest school, Northside Elementary School.

Nash said the addition of Northside would have required students to be redistricted anyway, so this was a good time for FPG to make its transition.

“Doing all of that reassignment at one time is a whole lot better than doing a little each year,” he said.

Chapel Hill resident Ennis Baker said her daughter, Ellen, previously attended FPG, but was redistricted to Northside this year.

Because Ellen is in fifth grade and had not previously been enrolled in the dual language program, she was not eligible to apply for the bilingual magnet school.

But Baker said she fully supports the new school.

“I think it’s a wonderful thing,” she said. “I wish all kids could have that opportunity.”

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