Dual Immersion Opt-Out

My friend is having her child start TK this coming school year and has gone through the application process for they're local zoned public school as well as putting in a transfer to a school that is more convenient for carpool and transportation purposes. They recently received a letter for a Dual Immersion Program Orientation for their assigned school and attended. Throughout the orientation, the principal kept speaking like it was an opt-in program, which they expected. It wasn't until questions afterwards where someone asked how to make it known they want the program, that the Principal stated that they were already fully DLI and if you want to opt-out, you need to go to the district and request a transfer.

The family is now scrambling to find another school, as they do not want to start dual immersion for TK and they've gone from being interested to completely pulling back because it's being forced.

Their issue now:

The district has rolled out the waitlists already (they are number 6 in their preferred school) but they would have put their hat in the ring for multiple other schools had the city and district made this mandatory program more widely known.

As of right now the district is basically telling them they'll get the short end of the stick, per se, because they're essentially too late and will be placed where there is space. For info, every single other school has a wait-list except for one.

Does any one have any advice on what actions they can take? They are talking about going to the Board to prevent this from happening to future families.

Just to add. The school seems to not want to be very open about the program being mandatory and after talking to someone from the district transfer department, there is a disconnect between them and the Principal on what actions should be taken regarding "opt-out" placement of students.

In future years, the hope is for students zoned in that area that want to opt out to essentially be in a priority lottery for placement along with the siblings and other priority groups so these families have a fair placement and not given the left over spaces.

Submitted May 2, 2026 at 09:13AM by endofthewrldprtyfavr https://ift.tt/Km9ByGS