Back-to-school with Co-Principals Olivia Contreras and Kristan Prolo of Randall

As the very first co-principals ever to have served in the Milpitas Unified School District, Olivia Contreras and Kristan Prolo are making history this year over at Randall Elementary School. 

And that’s not the only reason they’re making history. 

Randall is MUSD’s first dual immersion program, offering students the unique opportunity of becoming bilingual and biliterate in both English and Spanish. The program is moving into its fourth year, and it’s going strong. 

"What brought me initially to Randall was the fact that we were beginning our two way bilingual immersion program,” said Olivia, who had served as Assistant Principal for the first three years of the program. “I just knew I wanted to be a part of it.”

At present, Randall’s program goes from TK all the way to 3rd grade. And every year, the subsequent grade level will get added on, until the entire school is dual immersion-based. 

Kristan is coming off of being Assistant Principal over at Sinnott Elementary. She has two sons (now in high school) who also went through the same program in their elementary school in the San Jose Unified School District. Their involvement in that program has been incredibly fulfilling; not just for themselves, but for their parents as well. Kristan said that nobody in her household knew any Spanish before the program started. But since then, she and her husband have learned to speak the language. 

“I’m a little rusty right now, since I haven’t used it lately. But in a few weeks, I’ll be back to bilingual,” said Kristan. 

As a parent who has gone through this program, Krtistan is confident in her ability to work with students, as well as parents who might be feeling uncertain or need support as their child navigates this very unique opportunity. 

"We hear from our parents about the angst with the communication. The other part is they’re not sure about the homework, and they ask when the English is coming. Because all the foundational skills are taught en español first,” said Olivia. “We just keep reassuring them it’s coming. We have the 90/10 bilingual model. That 10 isn’t enough for our teachers to teach them English literacy skills until we get to third grade, when we’re at 30 percent. And that’s when formal English instruction begins. It evens out at fifth grade, where both languages are 50/50, and that’s where it stays. So by the sixth grade, they’re graduating bilingual and biliterate.” 

A few years ago, when the dual immersion program began, a master plan was created. Middle school and high school teachers were also involved so that they could start preparing for dual immersion students to come to their schools in the years ahead. 

"By middle school, they’ll have a dedicated Spanish class, and one other content class in Spanish, whether it’s history or math…They’re preparing for them now. The oldest are still only third graders so they still have time,” said Kristan. 

The high school will also be adjusting their schedule to be able to eventually provide college-level Spanish classes for students. 

Some big things that our co-principals are looking forward to this year at Randall: 

One is creating opportunities to support students in aligning to six traits that will be encouraged for every Randall graduate to experience: Global Citizenship, Adaptability, Empathy, Critical Thinking, Perseverance, and Responsibility.

"We also have a lot of things going on to support the teachers in how they’re teaching, and what they’re teaching. We want to give them the opportunity to be students as well,” said Kristan. 

At Randall, they’ll also be doing more proactive work in and around Early Literacy, for both English and Spanish. There’s a big push to support teachers in this literacy work, so that kids can access both languages comfortably. 

The Randall team is also looking forward to putting on a production of their second musical this year! Last year, a trio of teachers were instrumental in working with the kids for their first production, Aladdin. This year, they plan to start preparing a little earlier. (Stay tuned for more details, as we move further into the year!) 

“It’s such a unique opportunity for us to share this site,” said Kristan, of her teaming up with Olivia. "We’ve got some nice complementary skills and abilities to work together. We’re both very high-energy people. The teachers are happy and excited too. It’s going to amazing. I cannot wait to see where we are in June.”