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Thompson Middle School is getting Spanish enrichment program. Date published: 1/5/2005 By KATHLEEN LEWIS Some sixth-grade students in Thompson Middle School are getting the Spanish language classes they expected, had they gone on to H.H. Poole Middle School instead of Thompson. The students will be offered a class before school so they can be ready for Spanish I in seventh grade and Spanish II by eighth grade. "They'll have the same opportunity as the students at H.H. Poole," said Wendy Payne, principal of Thompson Middle School. Payne, teachers and parents met in December to come up with a solution to inequities in opportunities between Thompson and H.H. Poole students who had completed an intensive five-year language program at Hampton Oaks Elementary School. The majority of the participants went on to H.H. Poole. The middle school had a program in place for the graduates. But some had to go to Thompson, after the School Board adjusted attendance zones because of population growth. At Thompson, the students wouldn't resume language studies until eighth grade. That would put them a year behind their former peers at H.H. Poole. Payne said to add Spanish to the already packed sixth-grade curriculum as an elective would mean that the students would have to give up another elective in order to take the Spanish. The solution was to add an early morning Spanish enrichment program. Payne said the program will also be open to seventh-grade students from Hampton Oaks who participated in the language program as well as transfer students who completed elementary level Spanish. Details such as curriculum and Spanish I placement criteria need to be developed, said Payne. She hopes to have the class available by February. To reach KATHLEEN LEWIS: 540/374-5000 ext. 5749 klewis@freelancestar.com
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