School Board approves French dual immersion program for 2025-’26 school year

MANCHESTER, NH – On Jan. 13 the Manchester Board of School Committee (BOSC) approved a plan that will see the installation of a French dual language immersion program, tentatively placed at Webster Elementary School for the Fall of 2025.

First proposed during the tenure of former Manchester School District Superintendent Dr. John Goldhardt, dual immersion language programs in schools split the school day between instruction in a native language and instruction in a foreign language, with several subjects each day unrelated to direct foreign language learning being taught in that foreign language.

The proposal was delayed last fall after concerns that a French dual language immersion program could detract from the Spanish dual language immersion program that is currently underway at Bakersville Elementary School.

Manchester School District Assistant Superintendent Nicole Doherty was asked to return in December to the BOSC Teaching and Learning Committee to present a French dual language program that board members would see as sustainable, with members of that committee recommending Doherty’s revised proposal at the Dec. 10 meeting and that recommendation coming to the full board on Monday.

In the presentation on Dec. 10, a survey of families indicated that nearly three-quarters would support putting their child in a French dual language immersion and that such a program would be culturally valuable to Manchester given the French-Canadian heritage found in many of its residents, the influx of new French speakers in the city from African countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the fact that New Hampshire’s largest international trading partner is the French-speaking and neighboring Canadian province of Quebec.

School District leaders also introduced a new position that would coordinate all dual language immersion responsibilities in the district, with that proposal also approved on Monday. On Dec. 10, Doherty also noted that a second elementary school could be provided with a Spanish dual language immersion program in Fall 2026.

Initial funding for the French dual language immersion program will come from several grants and non-district sources, the largest of which is a $10,000 grant from the Government of France through their consulate in Boston.

Instructional assistance has also been implied from several groups such as the Franco-American Centre of New Hampshire, which already provides support for extra-curricular French language groups at several public schools in Manchester.

It was also noted on Monday that while Webster is the target for the French dual immersion program, interest in the program was also indicated by families within several other schools across the city.

UPDATE: During the March 10, 2025 Board of School Committee meeting, it was announced that the pilot program will be placed at Weston Elementary School rather than Webster Elementary School.