On Friday, June 5, Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) announced a reversal of their decision to cut language immersion at the middle and high school levels and in boundary programs (K-8 lottery immersion schools, including Dora Kennedy in Greenbelt, had remained unchanged under both plans). “We are pleased to share that Prince George’s County Public Schools will fully sustain Language Immersion programming for the 2026–2027 school year,” read the announcement. Parents of immersion students had rallied and campaigned to save the programs, and Superintendent Shawn Joseph referenced their advocacy at a recent meeting of the board workgroup. Though the parents celebrated the decision some said it had come too late for the fall cohort, particularly of rising high schoolers.
The cuts that were part of the superintendent’s budget would have closed Chinese Immersion at Paint Branch Elementary and Spanish Immersion at Capitol Heights Elementary and Chinese Immersion at Greenbelt Middle School, as well as all high school immersion programs – Chinese, Spanish and French, all of which are housed at Largo High School. For more on the decision to close the programs to incoming and transition students, see the February 4 issue.
On June 4, a letter to parents of eighth grade students at language immersion schools from Chief Academic Officer Judith J. White said PGCPS was pleased to announce they would fully sustain language immersion for 2026-2027. The Strategic Realignment Workgroup led by the Board of Education is currently conducting a review of the budget to guide long-term financial decisions, said PGCPS, but their work “will not be completed in time to inform immediate programmatic decisions for the upcoming school year,” said the announcement. However, the administration will realign funds across AI, professional development and innovation work “to bridge the gap,” and keep the immersion options, “while the budget workgroup continues its long-range financial planning.”
“Final budget decisions will be made in June in preparation for the July 1 start of FY 2027. As budget planning is an ongoing process, adjustments may continue throughout the year based on enrollment, staffing, grant funding and operational needs,” said the PGCPS announcement.
A Late-Coming Option
Boundary immersion parents like those at Paint Branch Elementary had been informed in a letter from White dated January 27, “After careful consideration, we have determined that we can no longer sustain the immersion model in a way that best supports an immersion experience. As a result, the following is a proposed change for your school. The Chinese Immersion Program will be turned into a Chinese World Languages program. Students will still have the opportunity to stay connected to the language through Chinese World Languages instruction in a separate class and will now receive all instructional content in English.” They celebrated the restoration of the immersion program at the school, though one parent said more than one of the immersion teachers had already planned to leave the school.
Students who will begin high school in the fall have already had to make other plans. “We understand you may have chosen a different program or neighborhood boundary school for your student due to the recent discussions about potential changes to our immersion programming,” acknowledged a June 4 letter to those families. “However, as a result of our ongoing strategic realignment, we are pleased to let you know that you may now opt to switch your student’s enrollment back to the Immersion program for the 2026-2027 school year,” it read. The deadline to respond and accept an immersion seat is Thursday, June 11, one week from the date of the letter.
Review of the January 23 letter to eighth grade immersion parents shows that, although White stated, “we propose transitioning from the Immersion High School Program due to its low enrollment,” she also wrote that “the Immersion High School Program will be transitioning over time,” framing the proposal as more than “discussions.” In addition, further solidifying the change, on February 2, PGCPS reopened high school specialty applications (which had been due in the fall) to eighth grade immersion students so they could select alternative options for the coming year, removing immersion from the list of high school options they could select.
Natascha Carroll is one immersion parent whose child had been looking forward to continuing Spanish immersion at Largo with friends she has been with since kindergarten at her K-8 immersion school. Her daughter had been heartbroken at the sudden news that they wouldn’t be able to go to the high school they’d planned on for the fall, or continue in an immersion program, Carroll told the News Review. “I don’t know if she will trust it,” Carroll had said when she first learned that high school immersion might once again be an opportunity for her daughter. Carroll said some other parents had already signed their children up for private school – that’s something PGCPS wants to avoid as the district confronts a trend of declining enrollment. Since the news at the end of January, Carroll’s daughter, who plays basketball, and their family have met coaches, staff and guidance counselors at another PGCPS school. Carroll’s daughter will continue as a PGCPS student, she said, but won’t be enrolling in the immersion program they had planned for after all.
Erica Watson Staples is another immersion parent with an eighth grader. “I’m happy and grateful for the overall win and the future of the program but also sad and angry about the inconsiderate manner with which they handled the issue,” Staples told the News Review. “Our family recognized the value of this program and made the decision to enter our student in kindergarten with the intention of following all the way through to high school graduation. After nine years of sacrifice and commitment, for them to just completely take it away only to suddenly reinstate it so late in the year is wrong and almost feels like a purposeful sabotage,” she said. Staples’ family has already committed to sending their student to Bishop McNamara, a private catholic school, instead and she believes many other families may be beyond the point of switching, too. “I just hope the program isn’t penalized for low enrollment. I’m definitely feeling a strange mix of emotions,” said Staples.
The uncertainty about the continuation of immersion, the language of sustaining the programming through the 2026-2027 school year, the unfinished long-term programmatic planning and the one week given to respond for an immersion seat available so late in the year may well mean the high school immersion programs that PGCPS already considered underenrolled will be further reduced for the coming year.
The author has children who attend a K-8 immersion school.