Blaine County Education Foundation Receives a Grant to Support Bilingual Education
$5,000 Donated to Purchase Spanish Language Books
March 15, 2013. The Blaine County Education Foundation received a $5,000 donation from
Jane Watkins to purchase Spanish language books for children participating in the dual
immersion program at Hailey and Woodside Elementary Schools. These children spend a
significant amount of their school time learning in Spanish. Teachers assign reading in Spanish
and this grant will greatly increase the number of Spanish language books available to the
children.
An avid reader since she was a little girl, Jane loves books. The impetus for this $5,000 gift to
the 3rd through 5th grade south valley dual immersion program was motivated by this love of
books generally and specifically by two events. In California, her nephew was experiencing the
effects of tighter school budgets that translated to a cut in funds available for books. Locally, a
friend's daughter in the 4th grade dual immersion program was seeking greater choices of
reading and age-level appropriate Spanish language books.
Jane is concerned about the cut backs in educational investment that are occurring in our
country, observing that the U.S.'s commitment to education has been waning. The possibilities
that are opened by academic excellence are harder to achieve in the face of reduced budgets.
So when it became clear that there was a way to enhance some of the classroom libraries of the
children of this Valley, she was thrilled to be able to assist.
The Blaine County School District began the Dual Language Immersion program in 2001. Now
in grades K-8 we have classes of approximately twenty students--ten native Spanish speakers
and ten native English speakers. The students receive roughly half of their education in each
language. This means that for part of each day, every student has the experience of learning in
their native language and learning in a second language. Students are encouraged to develop
literacy skills in either language. Developing fluency in two languages will be a tremendous
advantage in the world these children will enter after school.
The Blaine County Education Foundation is a 501(3)c organization whose mission is to focus
community resources and raise funds for the Blaine County Schools in order to promote
academic excellence, equitable education and a healthy student environment. The BCEF
accepts donations that support the schools in the Blaine County School District. If you wish to
make a donation or for more information on the Blaine County Education foundation, please
contact Mike Burchmore, Executive Director, at 208-578-5449, mburchmore@blaineschools.org
or go to our website at www.supportbcef.org.
-end-