Despite an earlier recommendation from their Superintendent, Conroe ISD will be keeping their dual language program, which the school board was surprised to hear was on the chopping block during their Tuesday meeting.
The Superintendent had added a vote to kill the program to the Conroe ISD School Board meeting agenda, without any heads-up. Board member Melissa Semmler said, "The parents all said that they hadn't had any notification of it, and wouldn't have known at all if they hadn't seen it on the agenda, which I also found concerning."
She added that in the future, she wants to see more transparency from the Superintendent. She said, "Initially, the board got blamed for closing the program because there wasn't any information put out. I spent a lot of my week replying to parents who were really concerned, and rightfully so."
Semmler did go on to say that there are concerns that need to be addressed with the program. Like much of the district, the program isn't fully funded or fully staffed, which resulted in Semmler's own son being pulled from the program after just three weeks. The suggestion to cut the program was one of many cost-cutting initiatives proposed by the Superintendent.
Semmler says that the program is critical for students and should be repaired, not cut.