By Nyah Adams / News Director

The St. Cloud Area School District is expanding its immersion programs for kindergarteners coming in for the 2023-2024 school year.

School officials say that there will be dual immersion in Spanish that will be offered at Clearview and Westwood Elementary. Dual immersion in Somali is set to be offered at Discovery and Talahi Community Schools.

Moving forward the Chinese immersion programs at Madison Elementary will remain for next school year.

Officials say that the benefits of language immersion are far-reaching. It enhances academic and linguistic performance in both languages.

Families interested in language immersion can contact Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education Mike Rivard at michael.rivard@isd742.org or 320-370-8006.