Anamaria Castañeda doesn’t want her son to go through what she did as a kid.

Growing up in Hickman County as a first-generation U.S. citizen, Castañeda found it difficult to foster both her English and native language, Spanish. She also struggled to feel a sense of belonging because she was often the only Hispanic student in class.

So, when it was time to choose an elementary school in Nashville for her 5-year-old son, Castañeda hoped to find one that was diverse, taught Spanish and maintained their heritage.

“That’s the kind of school I wish existed when I was younger,” Castañeda says. “To be surrounded by people who spoke my language and were also learning English, and being taught both languages at the same time.”

But to her surprise, Castañeda couldn’t find a school that met her criteria — until now.

Earlier this month, the Metro Nashville Board of Education approved Aventura Community School, a dual-language charter school aimed at making K-8 students biliterate in English and Spanish.

In a 5-3 vote with one abstaining, Aventura was the first new charter school to be approved by the school board in years. The district’s Office of Charter Schools had ruled that the school didn’t fully meet its criteria for approval but board members remained convinced that with the city’s growing Latino population, it was long overdue for the district to offer an education that honors native Spanish speakers’ first language.

“Aventura is a school that Nashville has shown that they need and that they want for a long time,” Natalie Morosi, the founder and executive director of Aventura, says. “We’re really excited to honor the linguistic diversity of our community, and all the academic and social opportunities that affords.”

Research shows that dual-language programs are advantageous for both native and nonnative English speakers. A 2017 study in the American Education Research Journal looked at dual-programs in Portland, Ore., and found that English learners were more likely to reach English proficiency by middle school compared to English learners who weren’t part of such programs. Similarly, native English speakers also performed slightly better in subjects like reading.

How Aventura Plans To Offer Something New

Before launching Aventura, Morosi was a teacher at Glendale Elementary, the district’s first and only bilingual program.

While both Aventura and Glendale are centered around Spanish immersion, Morosi points out that Glendale mainly serves native English speakers looking to learn a second language.

Aventura, on the other hand, will prioritize enrolling as many native Spanish speakers as native English speakers, which Morosi says will encourage students to practice Spanish informally during lunch and recess.

Class time will also look different. At Glendale, roughly half of the day is spent in Spanish. On the other hand, Aventura kindergarteners will learn in Spanish for 80% of the day. With each grade level, more English will be added gradually to reach a balance of the two languages in third grade.

That’s because native English speakers are able to absorb new languages easier while they’re young, Morosi says. The model also ensures that native Spanish speakers will give them direct access to the curriculum in the language that they speak at home.

Why Some Are Concerned

Not everyone is thrilled about the program. Some school officials worry that opening an additional charter school will hurt surrounding schools — many of which are already struggling to maintain their funding and enrollment.

The district’s Office of Charter Schools calculates that opening Aventura at its maximum enrollment of 930 students will cost the district as much as $4.6 million per year, though Morosi says Aventura doesn’t plan to reach capacity until at least 2029.

“That is money that would have been so much better spent on current school resources,” board member Rachael Anne Elrod wrote on Facebook after the vote. She raised concern of how the additional charter school will impact the district’s language support services, such as teachers certified in supporting English learners.

But Morosi says that Aventura plans to grow slowly, with less than 200 students in its first year. Though the program will be advantageous for EL students, not all native Spanish speakers enrolled will need help learning English, Morosi underscores.

“Aventura is a small school and the number of teacher that we’ll need to serve our EL population is not a lot to begin with,” Morosi says.

New Possibilities

Aventura plans to open fall 2022 in Southeast Nashville and will start taking applications this fall. Morosi says part of her goal is to collaborate with the district on how to offer similar programs in existing schools.

“I do believe that if Aventura can get it right and do it well, we can learn a lot and begin to offer dual language schools or programs ourselves,” board member Gini Pupo-Walker says.

She adds that such programs are advantageous for Spanish-speaking parents too, affording them an opportunity to be involved in the classroom in a way that might’ve been difficult in exclusively English classrooms.

Castañeda is planning for her son to apply to Aventura. Although she speaks Spanish with her son at home, Castañeda says it’s not enough.

“He’s not submerged in the Spanish-speaking world,” she says. “So, for him to have that in school, I just think that would be such a treasure.”