Bilingual education is in high demand in San Francisco, and parents have been clamoring to know where the new Mandarin Immersion school will be. Mayor Daniel Lurie celebrated the announcement this morning.
“SFUSD will open a new Mandarin Immersion TK through 8 school, beginning with its first TK and kindergarten classes at Mission Education Center on Noe Street,” said Lurie at a press conference with the district.
Parents say a central location was important — so far, many of the district’s immersion programs have been concentrated on the north and east sides of the city.
Historically, Mission Education Center — or MEC — has been reserved for Spanish-speaking immigrant students. Last year, educators at the site said their program was disbanded without much explanation from central office.
But today, the district says there will be no changes to the programs or enrollment plans at MEC to make room for Mandarin immersion. Even Cassondra Curiel, president of the teachers union, isn’t worried.
“No current program, no classroom, no educator is being displaced from the proposed next year start of TK and K for this Mandarin immersion program,” Curiel told KALW.
This location is only temporary. They’ll open one transitional kindergarten classroom and three kindergarten classrooms next fall at Mission Education Center, or MEC. After a year, they’ll move to a larger, permanent home and welcome one more grade every year.
The district says they’ll decide the final site by January 2027. Students will move there in the fall of 2028.
