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District to expand Spanish immersion to Myers‑Wilkins to relieve Lowell overcrowding, keep hubs and transportation
Summary
District plans to add six Spanish immersion sections at Myers‑Wilkins and reassign feeders and hubs to reduce overenrollment at Lowell; staff cited transfer patterns, new housing in Lowell boundaries and Achievement & Integration requirements as drivers.
DULUTH, Minn. — District leaders proposed moving six sections of Spanish immersion from Lowell to Myers‑Wilkins beginning next school year to address overcrowding, shifting feeder patterns and a requirement under the Achievement & Integration (ANI) grant to reduce a racially identifiable concentration at Myers‑Wilkins.
Director Brenda Sparza and principals from both schools told the board on Jan. 14 that analysis showed Myers‑Wilkins sends the largest number of students into the district’s Lowell immersion program — 82 in the previous six years, with 60 still in the program — meaning many neighborhood students cross school boundaries to attend immersion. The district noted Lowell’s immersion enrollment grew from about 345 students in 2014 to roughly 642 students in recent counts and flagged multiple new housing developments planned or under construction in the Lowell boundary, including a large project called Incline Village that could add more units.
Under the plan six Spanish immersion sections would be established at Myers‑Wilkins, producing a full 24‑section specialist schedule at that site and reducing Lowell to roughly 24 sections so both schools would operate fully staffed music, PE and specialist schedules rather than doubling specialists into shared time slots. District staff said the move should restore full‑time specialist coverage for both schools and reduce the practice of having multiple classes in a single specialist period.
Sparza said the district will preserve hub transportation options (existing pickup hubs at Congdon, Homecroft and Piedmont) so families still have route choices. She also noted state statute protects existing open‑enrolled students’ school assignments: students who already open‑enrolled to Lowell may remain at Lowell unless they choose to transfer through standard inter‑district processes.
Staff said they will create a Myers‑Wilkins transition committee, offer tours, schedule family immersion nights and coordinate with site leadership to plan logistics for recess, lunch and classroom placement. The district noted some Lowell parents and staff had concerns at public meetings; staff said they planned to support both communities through a phased transition and communications.
Achievement & Integration funds (the ANI grant) support targeted staffing at Myers‑Wilkins and require the district to address racial concentration metrics; district staff said the new configuration is intended to improve equitable enrollment measures and sustain access to ANI funding that supports interventionists and programming.
