Here is a sampling of letters and emails we have received during our application process:

As a pediatrician and father, I am very interested in having Austin Community School to improve our educational choices in Austin. Dual language immersion strengthens proficiency in both languages, helping to nurture and develop students to become creative and thoughtful citizens who will be better equipped to pursue higher education and career opportunities in our increasingly multicultural and multilingual society.

As a father of 2 young children, I would be thrilled to give them the opportunity to become truly bilingual at Austin Community School. As a pediatrician who serves a mostly low-income, Spanish-speaking immigrant population in Austin, I am equally thrilled by the prospect of having this amazing and unique educational opportunity for Spanish-speaking children in my community. Dual language education provides all students, regardless of language and economic status, with the skills to learn both English and Spanish fluently and apply their knowledge and skills across a broad range of areas. The added benefit of having children from different backgrounds work together and learn from each other is immeasurable.

I believe very much in Austin Community School and have pledged my support to this school.
-Roberto L. Rodríguez, MD, MPH

I have worked in higher education and currently work for a Fortune 500 company and see the necessity to have our children learn a foreign language early on. We are becoming a global community and if our children are going to have an advantage in this new world economy, we will need to give our children all the skills and tools necessary to succeed.

It is no longer an option to know a second language, it is now a necessity. We need to encourage our children to take on a world view in order to succeed in this new global economy. The Dual Language and International Baccalaureate programs being offered through the Austin Community School will provide our children with these skills.

I have 3 young children. The eldest will be starting kindergarten this year and I would move him to this school if it were open today. We value the educational opportunities offered by the Austin Community School.
-Martinique Duchene-Phillips

Because of the international nature of our business, it is essential we have employees who can speak, read and write in more than one language and work confidently across cultures. It is also imperative to our company that our employees incorporate flexible thinking and collaborative practices at their jobs.

Austin Community School’s program strives for just such characteristics. Therefore, we support opening Austin Community School as soon as possible.
-John Barker, Owner Trek Technologies, LLC

Many supporters of dual language instruction focus on the benefits reaped by the students; however, I would like to point out the communal benefits of such a program, as quoted from Dual Language Essentials for Teachers and Administrators:

"Dual language programs have raised the status and importance of languages other than English in many communities across the United States. In some communities they have eased tensions between groups who speak different languages. The programs have helped build crosscultural school communities and crosscultural friendships among students and parents, relationships that probably would not have developed without the programs. Dual language programs raise the status of languages other than English because as native English-speaking children become bilingual, parents and students alike see the value of knowing more than one language. Finally, as community leaders, school board members, school administrators, and teachers work together to design and implement dual language programs, cooperation among groups enriches all parties. (Freeman, Freeman, & Mercuri, 2005)."
Angélique Lugo

I am A.B.D. in a doctoral program in Science and Mathematics Education at UT Austin. My wife and I have been residents of Austin for 9 years. We have two children, a 6-year-old girl and a 1-year-old boy. We are members of the Austin Community School family and we’d like for them to attend Austin Community School.

Austin is comprised of 50% English speakers and 50% Spanish speakers. Doesn’t that sound like just the right mix for a dual language school? Doesn’t this seem like a great opportunity to develop what research has shown to be the most viable and most natural method toward true bilingualism? Even though the diversity of Austin deems it to be a place suitable for the development of a dual language school, it’s hard to believe that one does not currently exist. It’s also easy to believe that one could.

The popular conception of dual language programs is that they are designed to benefit language minority speakers. That’s true. When students are allowed to access the curriculum using their native language, they experience greater academic success and improved cognitive abilities. But there are substantial benefits to language majority students, as well. These programs emphasize full bilingual proficiency for native and nonnative speakers. And programming is not just about developing linguistic proficiency. Linguistic and cultural diversity among the student population and in the broader community are seen as resources to be valued, respected, and engaged, not as differences to be remediated or conditions to be overcome. Dual language classrooms promote positive attitudes for students towards both languages and cultures, and typically result in learners who are more flexible and more efficient in acquiring new information, and who have enhanced levels of self-esteem and self-concept.

I attended a dual language elementary school where half of the day of instruction was conducted in Hebrew. That experience gave me new ways to engage aspects of my Jewish religion and culture that would have otherwise been inaccessible. In a similar respect, I find there is an incredible richness in the diversity of Austin that will be a valuable resource for my own and other children when they are able to access it. It is for this reason that my family belongs to the community that is the Austin Community School.
-Steven Greenstein

As a nurse, I have seen the incredible need for multi-lingual people and professionals in many capacities. I hope our community will support this important concept.
-Mary Trentham

ACS would become Austin's only dual language school, an educational option that is greatly needed in our state capitol. Studies have shown that the most effective time to teach a second language is during childhood, and that immersion is the best technique. Please grant ACS a charter so that our children can have this wonderful opportunity to learn.
-Stacy Curtis

I am a parent of two (soon to be three) children under the age of 4, a Texas certified Bilingual Elementary School teacher with 5 years teaching experience, and a recent graduate of Texas State with a Master's in Elementary Education. As my oldest daughter approches kindergarten age in one year, I am very interested in the dual language program that Austin Community School will offer. Having an opportunity for my children to become bilingual like me would be fantastic. I am thankful that Austin Community School is offering a program to improve our educational choices in Austin.
-Rachel Soto

As an educator and parent, I want my child to have the best education for achieving lifelong learning, creative problem solving, and global awareness. The Austin Community School, through dual language (DL) and international baccalaureate (IB), would not only satisfy my goals as a parent for my child but surpass them. Having taught in a dual language school, I have firsthand knowledge of the success of children from various SES and cultural groups in regards to secondary education and TAKS scores. Above all else, DL combined with IB makes life-long learners competitive in a global environment. I want a DL IB program for the future of my family, Austin and Texas.
-Courtney Power-Freeman

I believe that my children will best be able to compete in the international economy if they are able to read and write in both English and Spanish. Thus far, Austin Independent School District has yet to develop any similar program, despite repeated requests from parents.
-Deborah Clarke Trejo

I am a second-generation Mexican-American who would like to express support for the dual-language program being proposed by the board members of the Austin Community School (ACS).

To understand my reasoning for supporting a dual-language program, I should briefly explain the history of my family and its impact on my life. My parents were raised in South Texas during the 1950’s and like many children of that era they were not permitted to speak Spanish in the public schools. In fact, my parents have shared stories with me that many of the school districts would allow the elementary teachers to punish young Hispanic children if they were caught speaking Spanish in the class. Many of these children upon entering school in those essential first 2 years could not speak English, as children of immigrant parents. Thus, it was not uncommon for children to be stigmatized by the need to be “held back” a couple of years. I am the first born child in my family and as a toddler my parents were split on how to handle the issue of which language I should learn as my native tongue. My mother began speaking to me in Spanish but my father decided I and my sisters would learn English first citing their elementary struggles as the argument for that decision.

Of my own will, I began taking Spanish lessons about 5 years ago and became fully enveloped in the desire to “take back” my cultural identity. With all sincere conviction, I believe that many of the socio-economic problems of the Hispanic population are rooted in low self-esteem and this I believe stems from an ambivalent sense of cultural identity similar to the one I’ve illustrated above. Even today, I stagger on my own words when I have an in-depth discussion in Spanish because I was deprived of Spanish in my very early years as a child.

As a parent, I have decided that the best life opportunities will be further expanded if my children are able to speak both English & Spanish both fluently and confidently. I hope that Texas will look to the educational welfare of its children (and future leaders) by approving the dual-language program being proposed by the Austin Community School.
-Ceasar A. Sanchez

The ability to speak more than one language fluently, to be familiar with Spanish and English, is crucial in our world today. The dual-language initiative was just getting started when I attended Harvard Graduate School of Education (Ed.M., 1956); today it is an accepted, full-fledged concept. This program is the right one for your community and for the state of Texas.
-Harriet Furst Simon, Center for Dewey Studies

The time has come for Austin leaders to listen to its citizens and provide such innovative programs to build students’ critical academic skills. All of society would benefit.
Because I care for my community, and as a Criminal Justice academician whose reviewed volumes of studies, the studies are clear: the earlier we invest in our children the greater the success.
-Aaron A Loaeza

Austin holds many “top 10″ spots in lists of best places to live in when it comes to quality of life, from environmentally-conscious to offering high-earning jobs. However, when it comes to education, Travis Co ranked 38 nationwide (Forbes 07). Not surprisingly, we don’t have a Dual Language and have only one IB school per level in AISD. ACS is a good place to start closing the gap. For the benefit of ALL Austin children, whether they come from bicultural/bilingual homes or not, this school MUST happen and AISD MUST follow! I hereby pledge my full support.
-Soledad Acosta-Houston

I am frustrated that my son has a French mother and a Peruvian father, who live in the Austin, TX and cannot find a pre-school where the 3 languages are spoken. It is unbelievable USA. Wake up !
-Madame Barbara Brandon

Children should be given every opportunity to be multilingual. By the time the children of today are adults, it will be a handicap if they are not due to a global marketplace.
-Ellen Rossi

It is costly and inefficient NOT to offer a language to our elementary school-aged children. And then to make it a middle-school requirement? That is shooting ourselves in the foot. Children are most able to retain language instruction at an EARLY AGE.
-Jenny Melendez

Yes! Let’s have a dual language program in Austin. It’s about time that we have real choices in the education of our children. Bilingual programs where Spanish is set aside as early as possible are a sad thing to have in 2008! A dual language program where both languages are taught and maintained will be well received, there are many parents like us that believe this to be important to their children’s education.
-Paola Ferate-Soto

I want to give my child the opportunity to compete successfully in the world. This ultimately means the ability to communicate with lots of different cultures. Young children learn languages easier than adults, so let’s give them that opportunity to learn.
-Lisa Byrd

As a parent who sent her children to a bilingual preschool and is currently placing one of her elementary school children in a bilingual classroom at the local public school (with much difficulty I might add), I absolutely support a bilingual charter school. In addition, I will be standing in line to sign my kids up.
-JoyJean Hughes

As a nurse, I have seen the incredible need for multi-lingual people and professionals in many capacities. I hope our community will support this important concept.
-Mary Trentham

As a mother of a 3 1/2 year old and a 1 year old, I would love for them to attend a dual language school!
-Molly Urrabazo

We are committed to raising our two children with the understanding that the world is filled with many wonderful and different cultures. A dual language education is the first step. We would support a program like this 100 percent.
-Christopher Bell

I am an Assistant Principal in AISD and would definitely enroll my 3 children in this program.
-JoAnn Aguilar

I firmly believe in the value of dual language education for the entire community, and I fully support having such a school in Austin. I think that it would be a wonderful addition and is much needed!
-Sam Marie Hermitte

We want the world for our children. Is there any better way to deliver it? I support multi-lingual education and the Austin Community School.
-Eric Tang

Father of a 5 year-old and 2 year-old. Austin needs this option to join other cities at the forefront of multilingual education.
-Omar Syed

I believe that my ability to learn languages with relative ease is a direct result of the bilingual education I received at both the primary and secondary levels. Bilingualism enables a person to think outside the confines of one language and to be more open to new experiences. Austin would greatly benefit from a bilingual elementary.
-Deirdre Nic Ruairi

As a university professor I know the value of a second language to the cognitive development of any child. As a Canadian, I know the immense value of a bicultural and bilingual community. And as a mother, I want these opportunities for my children.
-Lisa Moore

The future of our country depends on our ability to interact with the rest of the world. The future of Texas will afford the opportunities for promotion and job retention to those who are bilingual in the near future. As a non-Hispanic educator, I am convinced that we do all our students a disservice if we do not afford them the opportunity to be bilingual. We, so need a quality dual language option in Austin….in many languages, but starting with Spanish.
-Dr. Jean Bahney

Knowing two languages is always better than one. it expands your mind!
-Angela Guerrero

We are raising our children bilingually and we have noticed the great gift we have given them. Every family should have the opportunity of giving this gift to their children.
-Alejandra Hamlet

As a teacher and a mother of 4, I support dual language education.
-Maggie Burbo

As a graduate from a IB program in Houston, I am living proof that this model works, even for immigrant children who are English language learners. Though I came to the US as a child with no English skills, with parents who spoke very little English, I was able to succeed in the IB program. I graduated from High School with an IB Diploma and
was able to receive a full scholarship to a private liberal arts college. The diploma not only allowed me to keep up at this elite institution, I actually placed out of the whole first year and graduated early.

And now as a parent of a fully bi-lingual five year old, I am convinced that Dual-Language immersion not only works, but is fairly easy when children are young. Our ability as humans to be multi-lingual is clearly proven, but the window is fairly short. Why not maximize this time period and develop children who will be equipped with the skills necessary to navigate a global economy as well as contribute more to society at large. Multiple language fluency is increasingly required to work in business, the military, the government, or education, and this need will only increase as our
children get older.

Lastly Austin Texas truly needs such a school, and there is a solid base of support for ACS.
-Paula X. Rojas, Community Advocate

This school is a must in our city and in the world today. We all need to think globally!
-Leah May

¡claro que sí! A schoól like ACS would also greatly benefit graduate students researching
bilingual/bicultural ed.at ut.
-Suzanne García Mateus

Please consider this as a workable and viable option for producing truly bi-lingual children in our schools. Studies show that dual language education is one of the only ways to do this.
-Nat Whitman

To be empowered knowing multiple languages will touch the lives of not only the students but it will also have that ripple effect to all of those around them.
-Greta Contreras Fenley

As a mother and educator, I fully support Dual Language education.
-Luisa Glascock

I recently moved from an area which successfully offers dual language instruction in several languages. I hope Austin can begin with dual language schools which reflect the cultural and linguistic strengths which already exist here.
-Gail Sue Kasun

What a wonderful opportunity for this great city!
Austin can again demonstrate leadership as a tremendous place to live and raise a family. I enthusiastically support any and all efforts to provide a dual language school for the people of Austin.
-Jim Stewart

What wonderful news for the Austin community- it is long overdue in our city.
-Patricia Nuñez, Bilingual Curriculum Specialist

This is a great opportunity for our students, families and communities. I definitely support the creation of a dual language school in Austin. I am very surprised we are still waiting in Austin for a school like this. I support this initiative.
-Melissa Calderon-Rivas

As a grandparent and a former educator, I strongly support dual language education in the public schools. I believe that fostering bilingualism truly serves the educational needs of all children who live in a culturally diverse community. I also believe that dual language learners, as adults, may be better prepared to effectively participate in the life of that community.
-Annette Lifford

If ever a city was ready for a dual-language school, it is Austin. There is such a hunger among English-speakers to learn Spanish, and among Spanish-speakers to learn English, and this is a way to meet both needs in an equitable way. Beyond the linguistic purposes, though, is the cultural one. Austin is a city of cultural and economic contrasts, and a well-run dual language school would be a way to bring communities together. I wish it all success!
-Nanda Warren

This is the best program out there. This is a program that ensures bilingualism for all students, not just minority students. With this goal, the stigma of bilingual education is lifted from students and schools. This is the only program that the research in bilingual education fully supports.
-Charise Pimentel

This is the way education needs to go in this country to make everyone more competitive globally AND to raise awareness of everyone who lives south of the USA border (all Latin America, not only Mexico); it was long overdue in a progressive city such as Austin.
-Carlos Enrique Ibarra

This is long overdue. As an educator, I fully support the development of this dual language charter school with an IB program here in Austin.
-Laura McFarland

Having raised 3 children in such an environment, and having sent them off to study at great universities and to enter rewarding careers, I know the practical value of dual language schooling. Having worked in the same place, I know from former students how their lives were enriched culturally, emotionally,and intellectually. Go for it, ACS!
-Franki Monteverde

My 5 yr. old granddaughter is in a total immersion Spanish day care in California, and it is amazing how quickly she has learned Spanish. A dual language program would also be great!
-Amy Pro

I have taught dual language and believe in the benefits for everyone. I support a dual language school in Austin.

He enseñado una clase de dos idiomas y he visto los beneficios para todos. Yo estoy de acuerdo con la idea de tener una escuela de dos idiomas aquí en Austin.
-Joanie Grace

For too long, we have looked at bilingual education in the wrong light, intending to ween children off Spanish and get them in English only classrooms by the 6th grade. This is wrong. Instead, we should be wanting to raise children who are educated in both languages. Spanish speaking children and English speaking children are a resource for each other in an environment where both languages are encouraged. Being monolingual in this globalized society is not a asset, rather it is a barrier to success. Let’s get bilingual!
-Chris Hastings

We definitely need dual language schools in Austin! In a global economy, our local schools cannot afford to ignore the importance of fluency in multiple languages.
-Angel Sanchez

It's an absolute travesty that we don't have dual language programs in austin schools. this is a long overdue initiative. we need more progressive educational policies like these that reflect and support the cultural diversity of this city.
-Emmet Campos

Having grown up bilingual in Texas, I know the importance of supporting children growing up under these circumstances. This initiative represents the potential for social change toward great acceptance of those coming from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
Marcin Rusinkiewicz

Parent and Bilingual Reading Specialist in A.I.S.D. begging for a dual language school.
-Emily Bush

Dual Language Programs are the strongest bilingual programs. It’s time to embrace what works. I fully support this initiative and would love to be part of this school.
-Martha Sanchez

As a language teacher, I greatly support the creation of a dual language school.
-Rebecca Lammons

It is a shame that a city as progressive as Austin claims to be does not have a public dual language school.
-Luis Urrieta, Jr.

Apoyo este esfuerzo que seria muy beneficioso a nuestra ciudad y población de Austin.
I support this endeavor which would be extremely beneficial to our city and it’s population.
-Dora Fabelo

I believe in Dual Language, I have seen it done; it's an AWESOME experience that all should have the opportunity to have!
-Monica Tellez-Arste

I strongly support a dual-language school in Austin! Really, there should be a number of them here already, so let’s get with it!
-Randy Bomer

We STRONGLY support ACS and dual-language education, in general. As residents of Texas and Mexico, we are raising our daughter in a bilingual-bicultural environment because we believe it is one of the best gifts we can give her for the future that we all share. We hope that more children in Austin will be able to enjoy this important education at a critical, young age.
-Jill Anderson

Please allow this charter school to go forward. It is important to have options for our children, as it helps foster creativity and diversity.
-Todd McBride

Providing dual-language options for children is key to promoting their success in a global economy - and we want Austin to be a part of that!
-Amanda Tammen-Peterson

Yes, I will do everything that I can to make sure this school is a success. I am an educator in AISD and mother of 2 bilingual children.
-Laura Holtz

My husband is from Canada, with many relatives in Quebec. All of them were raised in bilingual schools and easily speak French, English and often a third language. I am frustrated that despite the evidence that spanish will be critical to our children’s success in the future, our school system has not embraced more submersive techniques. I want the best for my kids and my community. Learning and embracing both languages is best for all.
-Caroline Sinclair

In a city with the demographics and geographical location of Austin, this is a crucial need. Once my children leave their dual-language preschool, their local options for public school that will continue their multicultural education are very limited. I am 100% behind this idea!
-Loreen Bowen

My nearly 3 year-old daughter is being raised in a bilingual-bicultural home and I would love to have the opportunity to send her to a dual-language school in a few years. It is foolish to think that safeguarding monolingualism, rather than actively promoting bilingualism, is anything but a detriment to a “real” education. It’s about time Austin!
-Annjeanette Martin