About 170,000 Gwinnett County students returned to school Tuesday, but the experience was significantly different for five-year-old Xianne Scott and a few dozen classmates.
Not only was Xianne spending her first day in kindergarten at Trip Elementary School, she was in a classroom with teachers who weren’t speaking English.
Trip Elementary is one of three Gwinnett schools experimenting with a dual immersion program. Fifty-six kindergartners at Trip will learn French along with reading, writing, math and social studies. Annistown and Bethesda elementary schools are also participating in the dual immersion program by teaching some kindergarten students Spanish. Parents must enroll their children in the program.
The new school year arrived Tuesday with other changes in Gwinnett. A new school, Northbrook Middle, opened Tuesday in Suwanee. The district also plans to put armed school resource officers — for the first time — in all of its middle schools.
Gwinnett spokesman Jorge Quintana said the district was not aware of any significant troubles at any schools Tuesday. Gwinnett, the state’s largest school district, is looking to hire about 100 bus drivers.
Back at Trip Elementary, the new school year started relatively quietly, aside from one or two tearful students unaccustomed to their new surroundings. Xianne and her classmates colored as their teacher spoke an unfamiliar language.
Her father, Brayl Scott, said he and his wife, Giovanni, wanted Xianne in the class to “expand her mentally for future endeavors.”
The parents are expanding themselves as well. They also want to learn French.
About the Author
