The Bowling Green Independent School District will open Teranga Academy Bowling Green in August in an effort to support teens and their families who are new to the United States and American schooling.

The new program comes in partnership with Fugees Family Inc. The organization has worked with refugee students in school settings for more than 15 years, and BGISD will become the first public school district in the country to partner with Fugees Family Inc. to provide this program for refugee and immigrant students.

Fugees Family Inc. recently received its largest single donation, a $10 million gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, to help expand its school model to 50 U.S. school districts over the next five years.

Enrollment in the Bowling Green academy will be optional, but the district is working to identify potential students who may choose to participate in the Teranga Academy in the fall.

BGISD school board members passed a memorandum of understanding on the future academy during their monthly meeting Monday. The board also approved the creation of new teaching positions to run the program.

The district is planning to have the academy’s classes at the Bowling Green Learning Center on Old Morgantown Road.

Students enrolled in the academy would go back and forth to Bowling Green High School and Bowling Green Junior High School, but the learning center will be the home of teachers in the new program.

Superintendent Gary Fields said the district has spent the past several years looking for the best way to serve its wide range of immigrant and refugee students from across the globe.

“We have been talking about the best way to serve our newcomers to our school system – our refugees and students who do not speak English as a second language,” Fields said. “We finally think we have found the right partner to help us do this. We are ready to move forward with a model.”

Fields said the opportunity with Fugees Family Inc. became a reality after the organization’s founder and CEO Luma Mufleh visited city schools Dec. 10 and has since agreed to partner with the district.

Starting in August, the academy will be open to students who have been in the United States for three years or less, are multilingual and have had their formal education interrupted.

The academy will be an English immersion program providing up to three years of competency-based programming. It will also focus on helping students transition to a new country with trauma-informed practices and culturally responsive teaching.

Courses will also include music, art and American culture. The academy will also use recreational soccer to build community among the students.

“Giving our sixth grade students sixth grade textbooks that they couldn’t possibly understand wouldn’t be compassionate or a vote of confidence,” Mufleh said in a statement. “It would be setting them up for failure. Teaching them that there is no shame in being a beginner and that acquiring a complex skill requires starting with the basics is a way to show belief in our students.”

Students will participate in one of three levels at the academy for a maximum of three academic years.

The goal of the Teranga Academy Level One will be for students to reach at least a third grade proficiency level in reading, writing, math and English language.

Level Two will be for students to reach at least a sixth grade proficiency level, and Level Three reaching eighth or ninth grade proficiency, including the transition to Bowling Green Junior High or Bowling Green High School.

The academy is named after the Sengalese word Teranga, which means hospitality, respect, community, solidarity and sharing.

Students will be taught by elementary-certified teachers with fundamentals of reading and writing and early math skills.

Teranga Academy teaching positions are currently posted on the district website.

Training for these teachers will be provided throughout the summer by the Fugees Family Inc.

An event will be scheduled in April to introduce families and students to new opportunities provided within the program.

– Follow reporter John Reecer on Twitter @JReecerBGDN or visit bgdailynews.com.