Davis OKs school with 2 languages

The Davis School Board has given the green light to the second charter school in the district. But this late in the year, the school faces a race to get a parent advisory board appointed, staff hired and facilities built by the end of August.

North Davis Preparatory Academy will be the only school of its kind in the state, offering a dual-language program with a split Spanish/English curriculum. It will look a bit like Ogden Preparatory, which teaches some Spanish in the curriculum, but the Davis school will have 50 percent immersion each in Spanish and English.

Rebecca Farraway, board president of the academy, said the K-6 school will have three to four hours per day of instructional time taught in Spanish as well as some Spanish texts.

She said the school will be a good home for monolingual English speakers to learn Spanish and vice versa, as well as English as a second language students to continue to develop and balance the languages.

To achieve this the school will be staffed with English-speaking, Spanish-speaking and bilingual teachers and assistants.

"In elementary school children really are at an age where they grasp things very easily and are not so ingrained in a certain way of thinking," said Farraway. "They are just able to grasp information more quickly and with the 50 percent immersion — it's a wonderful gift that we are able to give these kids."

She said learning two languages gives students an aptitude to learn other languages.

"With a growing Hispanic community and an increasing world market, to be able to speak two languages gives these kids a real edge," said Farraway.

Davis School District also supports the concept — agreeing that they would be authorizing a charter that provides something valuable to students the district doesn't offer. Their main concern is time.

To get a facility built, a school staffed and an advisory board established in four months isn't a small task. But school officials, along with the general contractor of the school, assured Davis officials they would meet the mark and the district won't have to staff for the school's planned 350 students at the beginning of school.

But just to be prepared, the school has backup plans that include using a church or theater or even delaying the start of school for a week.

The school will be located at 1765 W. Hillfield Road in Layton. Construction started March 30, and school leaders say it should be finished by Aug. 20.

The school's board expects to start hiring staff and a principal within the next few weeks. Enrollment officially began Wednesday and those interested can visit www.ndprep.com or call 645-7447.

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E-mail: terickson@desnews.com