January 9, 2026 |Lynn Public Schools, News

Muy bueno: State grant helps Lynn expand dual-language program

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From Mayor Nicholson’s office: Five years after a dual-language curriculum was implemented at Harrington Elementary School, the program will expand to Marshall Middle School in the fall, thanks in part to a state grant.

Lynn Public Schools received a $435,500 grant from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to expand the dual-language program to the middle school level. Lynn was one of three dozen districts to receive a total of $2.3 million in funding to strengthen multilingual programming in schools.

There are more than 300 students at Harrington participating in the program, in which students learn subject matter in English and Spanish. There are two dual-language classes and two English-language classes in grades K-5, and one pre-K class. Forty-four fifth-graders will be going to Marshall in the fall and will have the opportunity to enroll in dual language there, according to Amanda Campbell, director of Multilingual Education for LPS.

“We’ve seen a lot of great results and the demand has grown,” Campbell said. “We have a long waiting list for this program. We want to graduate students who are bilingual and biliterate.”

The dual-language program was instituted at Connery Elementary in 2022 and there are more than 200 students in grades pre-K-3 currently participating. The long-rage plan is to establish the program at Breed Middle School when the first class of Connery students reach grade 6.

“The dual-language program is an LPS success story and we are excited to see it expand,” said Molly Cohen, superintendent of schools. “Our team who have worked on this has done an excellent job implementing it and preparing to expand it to middle school. We are grateful that this opportunity will remain with students as they advance to the next level of education.”

“We greatly appreciate the continued support and partnership with the Healey-Driscoll administration, the LPS educators who are creating these important opportunities, and the students and families who are taking them on. Providing these dual-language opportunities benefits our students and our schools and highlights one of our major strengths in our diversity and how that can enhance our educational offerings.”

Mayor Jared C. Nicholson

The dual-language program is completely optional and the students who participate range from fully fluent in Spanish to having no Spanish-language experience. At Marshall, math and history will be taught in English, science and Spanish Language Arts will be taught in Spanish and electives will be offered in both languages, said Campbell, who wrote the state grant application, with input from other team members.

“It was a team effort, after years of programming and planning,” she said.

In addition to the Harrington students who go to Marshall, there will be seats for an additional 50-70 students coming from other elementary schools and who have not had the opportunity for dual-language learning. The plan is to hire a fully bilingual science teacher and Spanish Language Arts teacher.

In addition to receiving the grant funding, LPS was notified in December of DESE’s formal approval of the expansion of the program.

“We proposed an ambitious expansion,” Campbell said. “The long-term goal is for students in grades pre-K to 12 to become deeply proficient in Spanish.”

“In Massachusetts, we want all students to succeed, regardless of zip code or circumstance,” said Gov. Maura Healey. “This funding helps create inclusive and high-learning environments for all students, particularly multilingual learners.”