San diego Charter School Changes German Program

A San Diego charter school has permission from San Diego Unified trustees to change its German program, even though parents asked for more school oversight.

The change, approved Wednesday evening, will make Albert Einstein Academies switch from a German-immersion model to a German-language program. The school will also postpone opening its high school and move its administrative office.

Einstein was the first German-immersion International Baccalaureate school in the county, serving students from kindergarten through eighth grade.

The school wasn’t fully running a German immersion program already, so these changes will make it follow its charter agreement.

If the school didn’t fix the issue, the district would have to start the process of canceling its charter, said Deidre Walsh, San Diego Unified’s director of charter schools.

Without changes, the district would have to issue a notice of violation. The school would then have only 60 to 90 days to try and correct the problem – something it has already tried to do but hasn’t been able to.

Many parents who spoke to the board Wednesday disagreed with the change and asked for more district oversight.

Some also worried about low teacher pay and the rising costs of building the charter’s new high school.

“We chose AEA because it promised a full immersion program, but later learned that wasn’t true for a long time – and the website still said it was,” said Natalie Cook. She said her daughter’s German skills had gotten worse this year.

Cole Jones, a parent and board member of Friends of AEA, said the immersion program – where students are taught in both German and English, with a 50/50 split – had been ignored for years.

“You’ll hear economic concerns, but there’s been a long