Turnout at Broadway Elementary Speaks to Success of Mandarin Program

Broadway Elementary School's Mandarin immersion program solidified its success Tuesday morning, when more than 30 parents from neighboring communities showed up to enroll their children in next year's kindergarten.

The program, which started last year with about 45 kindergartners, will keep adding grades as that class advances. On Tuesday, parents for whom Broadway Elementary is not their home school had the opportunity to sign their children up for the program.

"It just shows the diversity and interest in the Mandarin language program," said Herbert Jones, who was filling in as principal for the day, while Broadway adminstrators worked with prospective parents.

Tim Cushing came to enroll his twin boys for kindergarten. The boys' mother is Chinese, Cushing said, and he wanted them to continue learning the language. He had been waiting at the school since 6:45 a.m. "There were about 12 people here already," he said. Doors opened to the parents at 8:15 a.m.

The program is the only Mandarin immersion one on the Westside, and parents from Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, Culver City and even Orange County had expressed interest, said Rachael Babcock, whose son is a kindergartner in the program now. On Tuesday morning, Babcock was helping direct people into the school for enrollment, and talking with parents about the program.

"I was going to try kindergarten here, just because I believe in public schools," said Babcock, who lives two blocks from Broadway Elementary. "But Mandarin is a great second language—any second language is great."

Babcock's son went to bilingual French preschool Claire Fountain on Abbot Kinney Boulevard.

In the Broadway program, students spend half the day in an English-speaking classroom and the other half in a Mandarin one.

"They do so well, in a very short period of time," said Mary Cliff, a Mar Vista resident and parent of a kindergartner in the program. "It's fully immersive."

As a neighborhood school, the program gives preference to local students, whose parents have until April 15 to enroll. The school expects to accept about 45 kindergartners into the program for next year.

Be sure to follow Venice Patch on Twitter and "Like" us on Facebook for more local news.