SALISBURY — The Dual Language Immersion program available Isenberg Elementary will be offered at West Rowan Middle School next year.

The Rowan-Salisbury School Board of Education approved the measure during its most recent meeting.

RSS Chief Academic Officer Dr. Sajata Latten shared a little bit about the program at the meeting.

“The program aims to develop students who are proficient in two languages,” Latten said. “That would be English as well as the partner language of Spanish.”

According to the school system’s website, there are more than 200 Dual Language Immersion programs offered in various school systems across the state. Isenberg Elementary offered the first program of its kind in Rowan-Salisbury Schools in the 2019-2020 school year. It began that year with its first kindergarten class and continued to expand as the years progressed. So far, Latten said the results have been promising.

“When we look at the benefits of the program overall, we know that there is development that far exceeds children at their normal age for cognitive brain development,” Latten said. “The executive functioning, what we consider to be problem solving, that memory piece of it has increased due to the metalinguistic awareness students have and gain as it relates to dual language immersion.”

Latten said the benefits don’t stop there.

“There are also pieces that we consider when we talk about global readiness and cultural competence as it relates to the Spanish language,” she said. “When we think about what we are asking kids to do and what they will be proficient in, those two pieces are biliteracy and bilingualism.”

The curriculum that RSS is looking at is called Conexiones.

“It is a targeted language that reinforces both the language as well as the cultural understanding by preparing kids to be what we consider to be biliterate and bilingual global leaders,” she said.

Over the last month, Latten and her staff have undertaken efforts to gauge parental interest to capitalize on the opportunities if the program was expanded to include West Rowan Middle School.

“We surveyed these parents via email as well as cold calling these parents on the phone,” Latten said.

While there were some naysayers, in the latest round of surveys, parents indicating that they would consent to their children continuing the program outnumbered non-consenting parents by a greater than two-to-one clip.

Participation in the Dual Language Academy is not mandatory for students attending either school and students from other schools in RSS can enroll.

Latten further explained how the expansion to West Rowan Middle would work as it pertained to personnel.

“The personnel that we are looking at would be one teacher for years 1 and 2 in middle school and then by the time we get to year three … we would need potentially two teachers,” she said. “In terms of personnel, we will need to monitor the program in terms of what that enrollment will look like from year to year to gauge what we would need from a personnel perspective.”

The RSS website includes testimony from two guardians of students enrolled in the Dual Language Academy.

They are quoted as saying, “The Dual Language Immersion Academy at Isenberg Elementary is one of RSS’s best-kept secrets. Having lived in communities where there are waitlists for dual-language programs, the opportunity to enroll our children at Isenberg was one we couldn’t pass up. The research on dual-language learning is clear: kids not only learn a second language, but they develop greater mental flexibility and critical thinking leading them to perform well in all academic content areas. Without a doubt, we made the best decision for our children by enrolling them in Isenberg’s Dual Language Immersion Academy. They’re being led by incredible teachers and having a blast at school — all while learning a second language, developing cultural awareness, and honing cognitive skills that will serve them well even as adults.”

Board Member Dr. Rebecca Childs made the motion to approve the plans to offer the DLI program at West Rowan for 2025-26. School Board Member Jimmy Greene seconded the motion, which ultimately met board approval.

School Board Chair Kathy McDuffie Sanborn thanked Latten and the staff for “reaching out to those parents and having those conversations to make sure that they understand what the options are so they can make informed decisions for their children.”