After three board meetings, countless discussions, and five hours of heated debate, the decision regarding Palo Alto’s Mandarin Immersion finally ended, as the board defeated the proposal with a 3 – 2 vote at 12:13 a.m., Tuesday, Jan. 30.

The Mandarin Immersion program was to be pilot at Ohlone Elementary school for three years, with two combined kindergarten-first grade classes.

Board members Mandy Lowell, Dana Tom, and Gail Price voted against the implementation of Mandarin Immersion. This was enough to overshadow Board Members Camille Townsend and Barb Mitchell’s votes.

"I do recognize that an MI program would be of huge value to those who attend," Tom said. "The fact that we have a fixed amount of resources is a reality. I understand the passion behind it. But I don’t view this as resource neutral. I don’t think it’s going to be that easy."

Price had similar uneasiness about the start of a Mandarin Immersion program.

"We have a tendency to over promise," Price said. "I think the costs were underestimated. It would require a significant amount of funds outside of the district for materials and technology. We simply can’t do everything that is proposed."

Lowell said: "I think that a dual immersion program does enable kids to be bi-lingual and bi-literate. I think what’s good for one kid isn’t good for all kids. It is a terrific program. I think that with a district with declining enrollment this would be a no-brainer, but we aren’t. It hasn’t been shown to me that we can address a fourth choice program. The plusses don’t outweigh the minuses."

Townsend supported the program because she saw the program as cost neutral, allowing language to elementary school students, as well as using unused reasources.

"The choice program policy exists for a reason," Townsend said. There is a need for some commitment on the point of our lighthouse school district to move forward on Mandarin. We resources that other districts do not."

Mitchell, justified her change from an opponent to a proponent of Mandarin Immersion, saying, "I respect the voices, the questions that have surfaced. Cost, location and student selection have consumed most of my thinking. It does strengthen our district. I think this program has arrived. I am asking our community to remember the common goals we have, which is what’s best for our children."

Molly Kawahata, the Gunn representative to the Board, as well as a former student of the Spanish Immersion program, spoke of the assets the program had provided her with.

"Twelve years ago the school board took a huge risk," Kawahata said, " I see the future ambassadors and the future linguists in my graduating class. This community has definatly taken a stance. If not now, when? If you support language programs in elementary schools, you should support immersion."

Thirty-five townspeople addressed the board in a packed room. An overwhelming majority were in favor of the Mandarin Immersion program. Many expressed the sentiment that the con arguments are not very significant, and since Mandarin Immersion is a choice program, and many people have spent time researching this program, there is no reason to object it.

"People who speak two languages are bilingual, people who speak three languages are trilingual, but people who speak one language are Americans," supporter Yang said.

"We are not asking for something more-we are asking for something different, said Don Chin, a supporter of Mandarin Immersion.

Jamie Malt, who spoke for the opposition, said, "The Mandarin Immersion proposal cost is incomplete, it is missing the costs of staffing. There is no accountability for cost neutrality when the program goes over budget. There is no long-term solution for the location of this program. This is not supported by the [Partners in Education] benchmark study. We have a broken language strategy."

Faith Brigel, another person against the program, said, "We did a petition and we were successful. We got 1070 signatures over the past seven months."

Superintendent Mary Frances Callan similarly addressed her reasons for her recommendations for a three-year Mandarin Immersion pilot program at Ohlone Elementary School.

"It is becoming more and more evident in the 21st century, we need the ability to speak in more than one language, and in the state of California, the languages that are most critical are Spanish and Mandarin," Callan said.

"Additional languages are really critical to the education of students. We so have a strategy for teaching world language at our middle and high schools. But we don’t have that world languages at the elementary level."

However, the Superintendent’s other recommendation, was a plan to form a Foreign language in the Elementary Schools [FLES] in all the districts elementary schools, was passed by the board with Price being the only vote opposed.

"We do not have a current K-12 language strategy. That is something we need before we consider proceeding," Price said.

Another board members had more enthusiasm for the FLES.

"I find [FLES] very exciting," Tom said.

The recommendation would require a plan to include needs of the curriculum, the needs of the staff, cost, sources of funds, time able to give up during the school day, as well as the time needed to proceed at every grade level. This data and research will then be presented for consideration during the Strategic Planning process in 2007-2008, according to PAUSD officials.

"We do have the [world language] piece completed in the elementary schools," Callan said.