UPPER WEST SIDE — A Russian dual-language program that parents for years pushed to establish will have a home at a local elementary school starting next fall, the Department of Education said.
P.S. 145, a small elementary school on West 105th Street, will host the program starting in the 2017-18 school year, the DOE said.
The plan is for the P.S. 145 dual-language program to start with a pre-K and kindergarten class, said Lucas Liu, a member of Community Education Council 3, who chairs its multilingual committee and played an advisory role in the process of building the program.
For years, neighborhood parents have been looking to launch a program in which half the students are native Russian speakers and the other half are native English speakers.
Under this dual-language model, classes are taught in both languages so students gain fluency in Russian and English.
Local parents lobbied for a Russian program in 2012 and again in 2015, saying there were enough native Russian speakers living on the Upper West Side and interest in learning Russian to justify the program.
The neighborhood already has popular French and Spanish dual-language programs at several elementary schools.
This past school year, Russian-speaking moms Olga Ilyashenko and Julia Stoyanovich worked with leaders of CEC 3 to make the case for the program to principals at local schools.
The women learned this summer that a match had been made with P.S. 145.
"We are thrilled about the news," Stoyanovich said, noting that many of the details are still being worked out, including whether the DOE would provide funding for either a two-way dual-language program or one that would only involve native Russian speakers learning English.
"Funding is important not only because it will provide the necessary resources to establish this important program, help acquire materials and develop curriculum, but also because, as far as we understand, it will constitute a full endorsement of the program by the DOE," she explained.
The DOE would not confirm whether it is offering financial support nor provide details regarding the exact type of program that would be offered, stating that it is still in the planning stages.
"We're excited that the P.S. 145 community has expressed serious interest in opening a dual-language program in Russian and we are supporting them through the planning process," department spokeswoman Yuridia Pena said.
"The DOE is working collaboratively with communities across the city to enhance the classroom experience with culturally enriching, high-quality programs while addressing the needs of families."
The school will learn sometime this fall whether it will receive a grant for the program and what type of program it can offer, Stoyanovich said the DOE told her.
P.S. 145 principal Natalia Russo declined to comment. The PTA did not respond to a request for comment.
