FARMINGTON—In July the School Board initiated a study of the French Dual Language Immersion program at South Davis Junior High. At the board’s Nov. 18 workshop Secondary Director Chris Keime gave a review of the findings of that study and a recommendation.

“Currently there are seven students enrolled in the French Dual Language Immersion program at South Davis Junior High compared with 139 students enrolled at neighboring Mueller Park Junior High School,” he said. “There are feeder pattern impacts that we are aware of, the main one being that the bridge program in high school feeds to Bountiful High School which causes many people to decide to make that adjustment in junior high and go to Mueller Park which is the feeder to Bountiful High School.”

There are also elementary feeder impacts that have been discussed and reviewed with Foxboro and Odyssey elementary schools and the sunsetting of a French immersion program at Odyssey, which fed to South Davis Junior High School, said Keime. “The instructional impacts of declining enrollment are real. It’s hard to run a strong program and it’s hard to attract and retain a high quality teacher when the numbers are low. We reviewed that.”

There were nine digital responses to the community feedback, he said. “There were eight I believe in September but there is one additional one that we received just last week from a parent of a student in the regular French program. Her son is in French II but she was concerned about the elimination of French programs and world language programs in general.”

Keime said they have provided some support to South Davis to help continue the program for this current year while the study was conducted. “At the public hearing at South Davis on Oct. 23 we heard public comment and afterward I also got to meet and talk with the parents about their concerns. We know those concerns. They’re concerned about the quality of their students’ French experience.”

Keime said he’s been working with Dr. Logan Toone, South Davis Principal Mark Jolley and Mueller Park Principal Elliot Tupea to work on some potential digital options to increase the quality of students’ experience and provide support to those current students in the French Dual Language Immersion program at South Davis. “So we hear their concerns and want to acknowledge that and do what we can to provide support.”

Based on these findings the recommendation is to close the French Dual Language Immersion program at South Davis and consolidate it with a neighboring program at Mueller Park Junior High, said Keime.

“I want to make sure the accommodations that have been made for the students still at South Davis Junior High that those will carry on through whatever grade level they’re at to help them through that phase,” said Board member Joani Stevens.

“Current seventh, eighth and ninth grade students that are in the immersion program will get that digital support option,” said Keime. “So for this year in the second semester we want to connect them digitally. The program at South Davis will continue through the remainder of the year.”

They have a teacher and Principal Jolley said they found a teacher assistant to help them, Keime said. “We’re also working on a digital connection that they can connect with the Mueller Park program and the strength there and the teacher there to provide that support this year and then going forward for students that are current students in the French Dual Language Immersion program to provide that same digital support even though the program will close at South Davis.”

“It’s a difficult thing for those seven students and their families,” said Board President Brigit Gerrard. “We heard them and we really listened and are grateful for the work that you did to put this together and to answer some of their concerns and to provide that for those seven students.”

That evening during the regular business meeting the board voted to accept the recommendation to close the program at South Davis Junior High.