Students at three Manatee County elementary schools will hear Spanish from native speakers when classes begin Monday, Aug. 10, after four educators from Spain arrived to join the district's Dual Language Program for the 2026-27 school year.
Señor Vargas and Señorita Jurado will teach at Blanche H. Daughtrey Elementary School. Señorita Martinez heads to R.H. Prine Elementary School, and Señorita Lopez will be at Palmetto Elementary School. The four traveled more than 4,000 miles to reach Manatee County, according to Pulse of Manatee.
Lakewood Ranch-area families should note that Braden River Elementary, the fourth school offering the dual language track, continues to participate in the program even though it is not receiving a new visiting teacher this year.
The new arrivals join a team that already includes visiting teachers who came during the program's inaugural year in 2025-26, when the district hosted five Spanish educators for the first time. The exchange operates in partnership with the Spanish Ministry of Education and follows a model pioneered by the Palm Beach County School District.
How the program works
Participating students split their school day in half: one session taught entirely in English, the other entirely in Spanish, each led by a dedicated teacher. Enrollment is optional and begins in kindergarten. The district's goal is full biliteracy by high school graduation.
"By the time they graduate high school, they are fully bi-literate and can read and write and communicate in both English and in Spanish," Debra Estes, director of ESOL, Migrant and Dual Language programs, said in an Aug. 21, 2025, Tampa Bay 28 report on the program's first cohort.
Four traditional public schools offer the dual language track: Braden River Elementary, Daughtrey Elementary, Palmetto Elementary and Prine Elementary. The three schools receiving visiting teachers this year have a combined enrollment of about 1,960 students in pre-K through fifth grade, though the dual language track is optional and serves a subset of that population.
New leadership at host schools
Both Daughtrey and Prine enter the year under new principals who will oversee the visiting teacher placements. Rudy Keezer, formerly of Ballard Elementary, took over at Daughtrey effective July 1. Xhuljeta Gjini, who led Freedom Elementary for two years, became Prine's principal the same day.
The School Board of Manatee County approved the renewal of its international teacher agreement with TPG Cultural Exchange Services LLC at its Oct. 28, 2025, meeting.
The first day of school for all Manatee County students is Monday, Aug. 10.
