The 30-second version
- This year: no change. Chinese continues through 2026–27. 1
- Fall 2027: elementary and middle-school Chinese end. High school continues only with enough enrollment. 1
- The Board's own 2026–27 goal is a K–12 World Language evaluation. None has been published, and we have not found a vote approving the cut. 2 3 4
- Staying at your school? Say so. As reported, the savings depend on students leaving. 5 6
This week
Three things that reach the people who decide
- Email the Board and the superintendentToday
One clear ask, in your own words: finish the Board's own World Language evaluation and publish the numbers before anything is cut, and fund a path for current students.
- Staying at your school? Tell the district nowNo deadline posted · treat as urgent
The reported savings depend on students leaving the immersion schools. If your transfer family plans to stay, submit the placement form so the district counts you. 5 6
- Ask a Board member to put it on the agendaBefore Nov 9
Parents cannot add agenda items; Board members can request them. Ask one to. 7
What we're asking for
Our ask is narrow, fair and fundable. We stick to what the records show, because accurate facts are our strongest argument.
- Finish your own evaluation firstThe Board set a 2026–27 goal to complete a K–12 World Language evaluation and present recommendations. Publish it, with costs and alternatives, before anything is cut.
- A funded path for current studentsLet students enrolled in 2026–27 finish, or at least keep daily Mandarin and middle-school Chinese Language Arts inside the school day. No new kindergarten classes.
- The real numbers, in publicThe district's 2027–28 savings estimate, its assumption about how many families stay, and a side-by-side comparison with a sunset. Not a 2023 cost table.
Years invested
Half of every school day, in Mandarin.
In Blue Valley's 50/50 immersion model, students learn regular subjects in Mandarin for half of each school day, kindergarten through 5th grade. The program has run for 10 school years. Choose a cohort to see what one student in it will have put in by the end of 2026–27, and how much of the published pathway the change leaves undelivered. 8 1 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
from Blue Valley's published school calendars
half of the Board-adopted school term in hours
Program-wide · 2017–18 through 2022–23 only
from Blue Valley's published school calendars
half of the Board-adopted term in hours
From the end-of-year enrollment tables in the district's April 2023 report. Enrollment for 2023–24 onward has not been published and is part of the pending records request, so the true total is larger. 8 10 11
How this is calculated, and its limits
- Student days used, by year: 2017–18: 160 (estimate); 2018–19: 167 (draft); 2019–20: 126 (estimate); 2020–21: 168 (final); 2021–22: 168 (final); 2022–23: 170 (final); 2023–24: 170 (final); 2024–25: 159 (attended); 2025–26: 160 (final); 2026–27: 162 (scheduled).
- School days are counted from Blue Valley's published calendars (grades 1–5): the weekdays between the first and last student day, minus the no-school days the calendar lists. Half days and early-release days count as days. Built-in snow days count unless the number of closures actually used is known (2024–25).
- 2017–18 and 2019–20 are conservative estimates: no 2017–18 calendar was found (160 days, the lowest documented full year), and 2019–20 counts only the in-person days before buildings closed on March 13, 2020. 2018–19 uses the district's own figure for its draft calendar (167). Kindergarten has about one fewer day than grades 1–5 in most years; the counter uses the grades 1–5 count.
- Blue Valley adopts a school term of 1,116 hours each year instead of 186 six-hour days (K.S.A. 72-3115(b)); the 186-day state minimum is not the district's calendar, and the district's published calendars have fewer days.
- Counts one student's experience in a kindergarten-entry cohort. Students who joined later, moved, or attended Valley Park during its sunset will differ.
- Middle-school Chinese is a Chinese Language Arts course with up to two optional semester electives, not half-day immersion, so middle-school years are counted separately.
- Hours are half of the 1,116-hour term the Board adopts each year for grades 1–5. Kindergarten uses the 465-hour statutory minimum, which understates a full-day kindergarten. These are adopted terms, not measured hours delivered.
- The current school year, 2026–27, is counted as if completed: the figures are what a student will have put in by the end of this school year.
- The program-wide totals use the end-of-year enrollment by grade and site printed in the April 2023 report for 2017–18 through 2022–23. They stop there: enrollment for 2023–24 onward has not been published and is part of the pending records request. The report's separate 2022–23 snapshot (456 students) is a point-in-time count and differs slightly from its end-of-year table (445).
| Kindergarten year | Grade in 2026–27 | Half-day years done | School days | Mandarin hours (est.) | Elementary years not delivered | Middle years not delivered |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017–18 | Grade 9 | 6 | 959 | 3,023 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018–19 | Grade 8 | 6 | 969 | 3,023 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019–20 | Grade 7 | 6 | 961 | 3,023 | 0 | 1 |
| 2020–21 | Grade 6 | 6 | 995 | 3,023 | 0 | 2 |
| 2021–22 | Grade 5 | 6 | 989 | 3,023 | 0 | 3 |
| 2022–23 | Grade 4 | 5 | 821 | 2,465 | 1 | 3 |
| 2023–24 | Grade 3 | 4 | 651 | 1,907 | 2 | 3 |
| 2024–25 | Grade 2 | 3 | 481 | 1,349 | 3 | 3 |
| 2025–26 | Grade 1 | 2 | 322 | 791 | 4 | 3 |
| 2026–27 | K | 1 | 162 | 233 | 5 | 3 |
Key dates
- Fri, Nov 6, 2026 · noon CST (expected)
Open Forum speaker request form expected to open Conditional
The form opens at noon one business day before the meeting. That is Friday, November 6 if the district treats Friday as the prior business day. Have your remarks ready before it opens. 26
- Mon, Nov 9, 2026 · noon CST, or earlier
Open Forum speaker requests close Verified
Closes at noon on meeting day or earlier when about ten speakers have registered. Only the district's confirmation email reserves a slot. 26
- Mon, Nov 9, 2026 · 5:30 p.m. CST
- November 2026 · date not posted
Academic & Activities advisory committee expected to discuss language programming Conditional
At the October 12 Board meeting the committee's report said it will discuss language programming "next month" (the automatic captions read "rural language programming"; the audio was not checked). No date or agenda has been posted. Ask the district whether the World Language evaluation will be presented there. 27 2
- Unknown
- Through the end of 2026–27
Current Chinese programming continues Verified
Elementary immersion and middle-school Chinese continue this school year. 1
- Beginning 2027–28
Know the facts
Four facts carry this case: the Board's own evaluation goal, 2 the district's K–12 language, 9 the 2023 Board vote that kept the program going at one school, 28 29 and the Board approval for ending it, which we have not found in the public records reviewed. 4 The Facts gives you each one in a few sentences, with sources, our cost estimates beside the district's figures, and the arguments to avoid. The Board brief puts the case on one printable page.