Irvine Chinese Immersion Academy Charter Petition Received Strong Support at Public Hearing

Irvine Unified School District (IUSD) held a public hearing for Irvine Chinese Immersion Academy (ICIA) charter petition on December 13, 2022. The meeting room was packed with parents, students and community members to show their support for the proposed charter school.
Even more parents watched the meeting from home. 13 speakers urged the school board to grant the charter petition, which will likely happen in a February board meeting.

Principal Yulan Chung of Irvine Chinese School/SCCCA made a presentation to the board regarding the structure and curriculum of ICIA. Charter school consultant Daniel Lee covered the projected budget of ICIA.

7th grader Lea Kim wowed the audience by delivering her comment in fluent Mandarin, Korean and English. As a native Korean speaker, Lea has attended a Mandarin immersion program since kindergarten, even though the commute to and back from school took 3 hours.

ICIA founding team member and UC Irvine professor Dr. Shin Lin shared his view on how multilingual and cross-cultural training help with academic learning, innovation and leadership.

Another ICIA founding team member Beatrice Tseng also told her story of growing up in spanish-speaking countries which led to teaching Spanish at IVC. She has been an advocate for multilingual curriculum and cultural learning.

Most of the speakers are parents who support the Mandarin immersion program ICIA offers. They shared their own journey of moving from one city to another so their children can benefit from learning Mandarin.

在短短一個月內，爾灣中文沈浸式學校（ICIA）收到超過680人簽名連署，成立公立特許小學的請願書十月底正式遞交爾灣聯合學區(Irvine Unified School District)，根據加州法律規定，學區必須在60天內召開公聽會，聽取來自家長、教師、學區職員及社區人士的意見。

爾灣學區安排在12月13日的教委會議中舉行公聽會，當晚學區會議廳內座無虛席，來得晚的人只能靠牆站，還有許多不方便出門的家長，也在家追蹤會議現場直播，今年最後一場教委會議雖然還不會對ICIA的申請案作出決定，卻是衡量社區支持度的重要指標。

南海岸中華文化中心執行長/爾灣中文學校校長鍾幼蘭，代表ICIA創校團隊先在公聽會上簡報，她強調，新冠疫情衝擊整個社會及教育，年輕的家長積極爭取成立中文沈浸式學校，他們想趁著孩子學習語言的黃金期，培養多語言、跨文化、具有世界觀的下一代。爾灣學區學生總數多達36,000人，而ICIA僅招收400名學生，不但提供了新的教育選項，也體現多元、平等及包容的趨勢。

特許學校顧問Daniel Lee也就ICIA未來五年的財務提出報告，ICIA第一年預計招收250名學生，逐年增加到400人，每班學生約30人，將聘教師及助教各一名。

在公聽會上發言的13人，從不同的角度提出支持爾灣中文沈浸式學校的理由。

七年級學生Lea Kim上台發言時，使用流利的韓語、華語及英語，展現多語言教育的亮麗成果。在家講韓語的Lea，為了學中文，幼稚園起進入沈浸式中文班，每天上學來回三小時，她希望以後的學生學中文不必像她這麼辛苦。

爾灣加大教授林欣以他多年在高等教育圈的經歷，佐證多言語、跨文化的訓練，有助於學術研究創新及領導力。另一位ICIA創校團隊成員曾尚儀，現任IVC語言系系主任，她因隨父母定居中南美洲，學會流利的西語，更進而任教IVC多年。

多位家長分享了幼年子女就讀沈浸式中文學校，幾個月後就能講普通話的學習效果。也有家長為了爭取讓子女進入中文沈浸式學校就讀，不惜從南到北多次搬家。還有家長希望培養子女講華語，保持與祖父母流暢溝通的能力。