MASHPEE – A new facility which will offer immersion pre-school education in the Wampanoag Wôpanâak language will open next year at the Montessori Academy of Cape Cod in North Falmouth.
This changes the Wampanoag Language Reclamation Project’s previous plans to pursue the Weetumuw Wôpanâak Charter School, which would have served tribal students from kindergarten through eighth grade.
The fall 2016 launch date is yet to be announced, but 14 slots are expected to be available.
Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project Immersion School Developer Jennifer Weston said the a few issues brought the school to parallel the charter plan with a private solution.
Weston said the Commonwealth charter school law mandates that the first two charters must be given to schools with students scoring in the lowest 10 percent of MCAS tests.
“We wanted a consisted timeline for parents that wasn’t dependent on a regulatory process,” she said.
The current plan offers pre-school immersion classes to tribal families starting next fall. Weston said about 90 percent of those proceedings will be taught in Wôpanâak.
The program may extend to kindergarten in 2017, she said.
Two language teachers are presently enrolled in a new Montessori teacher education certification process.
“By the time our teachers complete their classroom hours, they’ll be ready to implement their practicum teaching hours in our new immersion school classrooms.”
In the meantime, Weston said the Language Reclamation Project may pursue options available from the Bureau of Indian Education, a federal network of schools established on Indian reservations.
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