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John Anthony Estrada, son of Marci Calderon. John Anthony is pictured
reading in class Thursday morning at Tahoe Lake Elementary School in Tahoe City.
KINGS BEACH, Calif. — Marci Calderon came to work Wednesday without some of the good friends she sees every August because of the North Shore elementary school reconfiguration.
“I was really sad, it makes me cry to think of it,” Calderon said. “Half of our old teachers went over there.”
Teachers and other staff from Kings Beach Elementary, where Calderon works in the school's office, moved this week to Tahoe Lake Elementary in Tahoe City, the school that is now home to the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District's lakeside English-only program. The TTUSD school board decided to reconfigure the schools in April.
As if being away from coworkers and friends isn't hard enough, Calderon also had to say goodbye to another person important to her: Her son, first-grader John Anthony Estrada.
“Right now I have a pain in my chest,” Calderon said. “I was a little concerned about him getting to school OK the first day, I worried he'd get there safe.”
It goes both ways.
Although Estrada said he enjoys his new school, he said he'll miss going to school with mom.
“I miss going to the office after class,” Estrada said. “Because my mom was there.”
His favorite part of Tahoe Lake? The playground.
Calderon said she decided to send Estrada to Tahoe Lake even though she had the choice to send him to Kings Beach, which is close to the family's Tahoe Vista home and where Estrada attended kindergarten.
Kings Beach is now exclusively for students in the Spanish two-way immersion program, while Tahoe Lake houses an English mainstream program.
“I had a chance to put him here, but I chose not to,” Calderon said. “I wanted him to interact with the other kids in the English mainstream program. I wanted him to be over there.”
Calderon is bilingual, Estrada's father speaks only Spanish and Calderon and Estrada speak English. She said she'd rather Estrada learn in the English mainstream program at TLE and will take responsibility for his Spanish.
“He's doesn't speak it too well yet,” Calderon said. “He speaks a little bit, and he can understand it, but he answers his father in English. I view it as my responsibility to teach him Spanish.”
She said she's excited for him to attend Tahoe Lake, where he attends school with many of his friends and fellow students from Kings Beach last year.
“It'll be tough not seeing him, but I'm really excited because half of his friends are there,” Calderon said. “And half the class is native English speakers, so they can all help each other.”
“I was really sad, it makes me cry to think of it,” Calderon said. “Half of our old teachers went over there.”
Teachers and other staff from Kings Beach Elementary, where Calderon works in the school's office, moved this week to Tahoe Lake Elementary in Tahoe City, the school that is now home to the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District's lakeside English-only program. The TTUSD school board decided to reconfigure the schools in April.
As if being away from coworkers and friends isn't hard enough, Calderon also had to say goodbye to another person important to her: Her son, first-grader John Anthony Estrada.
“Right now I have a pain in my chest,” Calderon said. “I was a little concerned about him getting to school OK the first day, I worried he'd get there safe.”
It goes both ways.
Although Estrada said he enjoys his new school, he said he'll miss going to school with mom.
“I miss going to the office after class,” Estrada said. “Because my mom was there.”
His favorite part of Tahoe Lake? The playground.
Calderon said she decided to send Estrada to Tahoe Lake even though she had the choice to send him to Kings Beach, which is close to the family's Tahoe Vista home and where Estrada attended kindergarten.
Kings Beach is now exclusively for students in the Spanish two-way immersion program, while Tahoe Lake houses an English mainstream program.
“I had a chance to put him here, but I chose not to,” Calderon said. “I wanted him to interact with the other kids in the English mainstream program. I wanted him to be over there.”
Calderon is bilingual, Estrada's father speaks only Spanish and Calderon and Estrada speak English. She said she'd rather Estrada learn in the English mainstream program at TLE and will take responsibility for his Spanish.
“He's doesn't speak it too well yet,” Calderon said. “He speaks a little bit, and he can understand it, but he answers his father in English. I view it as my responsibility to teach him Spanish.”
She said she's excited for him to attend Tahoe Lake, where he attends school with many of his friends and fellow students from Kings Beach last year.
“It'll be tough not seeing him, but I'm really excited because half of his friends are there,” Calderon said. “And half the class is native English speakers, so they can all help each other.”
