Parents, teachers urge Redwood City School Board to avoid combination classrooms in Mandarin immersion program

Multiple parents, teachers and students urged the Redwood City School Board on April 22 to abandon a district proposal to create combined-grade classrooms in the Mandarin immersion pipeline, arguing the change would dilute instruction and harm students who need targeted services.

Lisonbee Rhodes, representing Clifford Elementary teachers and special-education staff, delivered a petition and summarized classroom-level harms: "Teachers will be effectively planning and teaching two grade levels at once, doubling the workload and reducing instructional quality," she said, asking the district to eliminate combination classes.

Parents described how third grade is a pivotal year for immersion literacy and fluency. "Third grade is a critical point in the immersion journey…a combo class risks diluting that experience," Andrew Chan told the board. Several speakers said mixing third- and fourth-graders would reduce Mandarin instructional time and make it harder to meet IEP and multilingual-learner needs.

Jason Madsen, speaking for multiple second-grade families, said current proposals would leave one standalone third-grade class and one combined third/fourth with 31 students each and urged the district to recruit to fill two dedicated third‑grade classes instead. Parents warned that perceived program weakening could prompt some families to withdraw, further shrinking enrollment and making the staffing problem worse.

Board members acknowledged receipt of constituent emails and asked staff to consider options. Trustee comments during other-business suggested bringing school-of-choice policy and enrollment/attrition dynamics back for further study.

No formal policy or program change was adopted at the meeting; the public-comments segment concluded with the board hearing the concerns and adding the issue to its parking‑lot list for future agenda consideration.