The McKinney ISD Board of Trustees voted unanimously to expand select attendance boundaries and create the Caldwell Dual Language Academy at a Feb. 24 meeting.
The gist
McKinney ISD currently offers bilingual instruction in Spanish and English through the English as a second language program at various campuses including Finch Elementary, as well as through the two-way dual language program at Caldwell Elementary. The dual language program combines emergent bilingual students with students learning Spanish.
Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, select students in the dual language program will attend Caldwell Dual Language Academy, which is currently Caldwell Elementary. The school will no longer have a dedicated attendance zone, and will instead serve all emergent bilingual students in the newly created Finch Elementary attendance zone.
Finch Elementary will serve monolingual students within its new attendance zone, which includes the current attendance zones for Finch and Caldwell elementary schools, as well as the southern portion of the Webb Elementary School attendance zone.
A review committee assessed various elements of each program, including enrollment data, student achievement data and more, prior to pursuing the dual language academy model for Caldwell Elementary. Both Caldwell and Finch elementary schools have seen small declines in annual student enrollment since 2020, including decline in emergent bilingual students, according to a statement from the district.
The review ultimately identified that the district be more effectively serve students by concentrating monolingual and bilingual programs at specific campuses, Assistant Superintendent of Business Operations Dennis Womack said. The structure would also assist teachers by reducing the number of single grade level sections and creating opportunities for teachers to collaborate with colleagues that teach the same grade level.
“Our findings from that review of those programs was that obviously the dual language program is successful and that it does support our English language learners, the data yields that,” Womack said, noting that the dual language program has a waitlist.
The change is intended to improve the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of both programs, Womack said. Students wishing to attend the academy that don’t currently attend the dual language program must apply through the Choose McKinney ISD program by April 4, according to district documents.
Also of note
The reallocation of a portion of the Webb Elementary attendance zone will help with projected enrollment for the school.
While enrollment is stagnant at Finch Elementary, and Caldwell Elementary is seeing declining enrollment of emergent bilingual students specifically, Webb is expected to be over capacity by the 2026-27 school year, according to a presentation at the meeting.
The Caldwell Dual Language Academy will offer both one-way and two-way bilingual programs for select grades, but will slowly phase out the one-way ESL program over the next four school years. By 2029-30 school year, only the two-way program will be taught.
“One of the things that has made our program successful, our two-way program, is that we really try to adhere to the 50/50 ratio, that means 50% emergent bilinguals, 50% Spanish learners, because that’s the way that kids are learning from each other,” said Zabdi Gonzalez, senior director of English Language Support.
The realignment of monolingual and bilingual students between the two campuses would be nearly “an even swap”, Womack said, noting that the overall student population at both campuses would remain about the same.
Transportation within the newly created Finch attendance zone will be provided for students that need to go to either campus in the zone.
“The kids that are able to walk to Finch [Elementary] today that want to participate in the dual language [program] will get transportation from Finch over to Caldwell, and from Caldwell back to Finch,” Womack said, noting the same will be true for transportation from Caldwell Elementary to Finch Elementary.
In an assessment of accountability implications of the realigned attendance zone and creation of the academy program, district officials identified that the change is expected to have little to no change on standardized testing outcomes, according to data from the district.
What they’re saying
Rachel Harris, a parent of a student that attended Finch Elementary, spoke against the change at the meeting.
“Instead of you separating these students from their community, you should be investing in the program, and give Finch [Elementary] the same resources as Caldwell [Elementary] and expand the program,” Harris said.
Trustee Stephanie O’Dell said that “there will be good” that comes from the program change.
“The parents that are not real thrilled with the decisions, I understand and I hurt for you but if you’re supportive, your kids will make it through,” O’Dell said. “Your kids are young and they’re resilient, and in the scheme of things, it could be really good for them.”
Looking ahead
Efforts to create events and other community activities at each campus are underway with a goal of allowing each school community a chance to interact and make connections ahead of the next school year, district officials said.
“I look forward to hearing more about, as we go forward, how parents and students are supported during this transition so it can be as smooth as possible for all people that are impacted,” Board President Philip Hassler said.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the application window for the Caldwell Dual Language Academy for the 2025-26 school year.
