PAINESVILLE, Ohio — A new public charter school aimed at teaching students to read, write, and speak Spanish is opening its doors this week.
The Lake Erie Bilingual Academy has 50 to 60 students currently enrolled. Principal David Kassel expects to have nearly 100 students in a couple of months.
“Since we've announced that we are opening a bilingual academy, the first thing everybody says is: ‘This is so needed. Why hasn't this happened before?,’” Kassel said.
The school will have 45 minutes of daily Spanish for all students.
“The goal is that our students should be able to read, write and speak Spanish by the time they leave us in eighth grade,” he added.
When Kimberly Johnson heard of the new opportunity, she said she felt like it was a “Godsend.”
“When I came across Lake Erie Academy, it was like rock star! Yes, let's do this! It's the kindergarten curriculum at his level, at his pace. I felt like it would be a continuous educational challenge for him,” Johnson said.
Her son, Malachi, will be entering EK this school year.
“In today's society, it's very important to be bilingual. With him starting early on and learning it is like the icing on the cake,” Johnson stated.
Additionally, an accelerated version of math and English will be taught.
“It gets the kids invested in learning because they are seeing their progress, and they are keeping track of their progress along the way. We're not just teaching every single person the exact same thing and then we're going to move on. If they don't get it, we're going to reteach it because clearly, we didn't do something right,” Kassel explained.
While the Lake Erie Bilingual Academy is only open to EK-5 right now, Kassel fully anticipates reaching the high school level down the road.
“We will be K to eight in the next few years. Our fifth graders will be opening sixth grade next year and then they'll open seventh and then they'll open eighth grade. We actually have the capacity to open a high school if we want to. If we become successful, which I truly believe that we will be, we will look at the possibility of going K to 12 and probably securing another building to do a middle and high school building as a separate school for the Lake Erie Bilingual Academy,” Kassel stated.
Kassel said a question he’s been asked quite a few times is if kids have to be Hispanic to attend. The answer is no.
“I'd say about half of our students enrolled are Hispanic and half of them are not. This is a public charter school. We are tuition free. We are a public school serving the community and you don't even need to live in Painesville. We will serve you. If you want to come to us from Pennsylvania, you could come to us. You'll just have to get your own ride. But the truth is we're a public school. We're just another option for families if they want something different,” Kassel continued.
The Lake Erie Bilingual Academy still has open spots for this school year, but Kassel said they’re filling up rather quickly.
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Kassel said parents/guardians will need to bring documentation showing residency, identification, the child’s birth certificate, and immunization records.
“I never thought in a million years that I would be opening a school,” Kassel said.
The academy is full on employment, but Kassel said as it expands, the need for more teachers and administrators will be there. Most of the school’s employees are bilingual.
“I can foresee something very, very soon happening. Being able to see the students coming in today is just awesome. That's why we do what we do. We want to make sure that we do the best we can for our students. When they have that aha moment, that burst of knowledge – you can see that light bulb light up on top of their heads as an educator, there really isn't a better feeling,” Kassel explained.
Now that the school has hit the ground running, it’s time for parents like Johnson to get the first-day jitters out.
“We've done all the preliminary things. We've done the paperwork and we've done the school shopping. But emotionally it will be… I don't know what it'll be until day one of school, but I'm excited about it,” Johnson said.
The first day of school for the Lake Erie Bilingual Academy is Wednesday, August 14.
¡Buena suerte en el próximo año escolar! In English: Good luck on the next school year!
