Robbinsdale Spanish Immersion School turns 25

Alumni came back to the Robbinsdale Spanish Immersion School last week as it celebrated its 25th year with three days of festivities.

The K-5 school is the second-oldest Spanish immersion school in the state -- Adams school in St. Paul is the oldest -- and many of its former students are now adults who maintain strong bonds to their alma mater.

Maureen McCullagh is one of them. She started at the school in its sixth year and today is a first-grade teacher there.

"It's been my dream since elementary school to come back and be part of this community," she said. "You become part of such a family here."

The school was started in 1987 with a trial class of about 100 kindergartners. One grade level was added each year until it got to K-5. Its enrollment today is about 750.

Last week's events began with a chance for alumni to tour the school and get together at an ice cream social.

Laura Fredrickson-Morales, 24, now lives in Chicago, but she made the trip back to the Twins Cities especially for the school's anniversary.

Thursday afternoon found her sitting beside her former first-grade teacher, Laura Pezan, reading to the 20 or so students seated in front of her. Fredrickson-Morales read in Spanish, of course, and the book was one she had created 16 years ago when she was one of Pezan's pupils.

"I loved that school more than anything," Fredrickson-Morales said. "I wanted to tell my teachers how much they meant to me and that they taught me Spanish. It changed my life."

Being bilingual helps today in her job with an agency that manages HUD housing, as about 20 percent of the tenants are Spanish-speaking, she said. Her fluency also helped her earn more.

In addition, she lives in a largely Hispanic neighborhood and was welcomed into the community. One more thing: Her husband is Puerto Rican, and her Spanish skills helped her win early points with her future in-laws, she said with a laugh.

Another former student who stopped in Thursday was Michele Dexter, a first-grade classmate of Frederickson-Morales'. She's one of five siblings who attended the school. Her parents thought it was worth a shot. "It was," she said.

The fluency she developed as a student got a little rusty but has come back with practice, she said.

All Spanish, then a mix

In kindergarten and first grade, students are taught exclusively in Spanish. Beginning in second grade, teachers gradually incorporate English until the instruction is split equally between the two languages in fifth grade.

McCullagh and Principal Jane Byrne said students generally become quite fluent by second grade. Byrne recalled one instance when a third-grader's Spanish skills got a real-life test.

The boy's father had traveled to Chile on business and the family went along. The dad's translator became ill, so the third-grader handled the role, Byrne said.

The school has had three homes. It started out at Olson Elementary, then moved to Robbinsdale Middle School (the old Robbinsdale High School), and now it is in the Sunny Hollow building in New Hope, where it's been based for several years.

One constant over the years has been strong parental involvement, Byrne and McCullagh said. That was especially helpful in the early years, they said, when the school was venturing into largely uncharted territory.

McCullagh said there is "a huge sense of family" in the school community.

Byrne said the school continues to grow and has a waiting list of 100-plus students each year. Enrollment is based on a lottery system.

After fifth grade, students can move on to a Spanish immersion program in grades 6 through 8.

Staff writer Jim Kern contributed to this report. Bryna Godar is a University of Minnesota student on assignment for the Star Tribune.