Jon Fulk Appointed Head of School at Escuela Bilingüe Internacional in Oakland, Fulk, Primary School Head of the American School Foundation in Mexico City, boasts extensive international education experience

Oakland, CA, December 11, 2007 – The Escuela Bilingüe Internacional Board of Trustees is pleased to announce the appointment of Jon Fulk as EBI’s new head of school. Fulk, who currently heads the primary school of the American School Foundation in Mexico City, will assume his new role in the 2008/09 calendar school year.

"We are thrilled that Jon Fulk will be joining the EBI community next summer," said Liza Sánchez, president of the EBI Board of Trustees. "We are looking forward to the experience and expertise he brings in international education and the International Baccalaureate curriculum, and are sure he will be instrumental in helping EBI move forward and achieve its mission."

Fulk was chosen after an extensive head search, which involved phone interviews with a dozen people across the world and actually flying in applicants from Chile, Colombia, Mexico and France. A committee of parents and a committee of teachers and staff also interviewed the candidates, providing their input to the EBI Board of Trustees.

Fulk, who has lived and worked at the school in Mexico City for the last six years, is excited to come to Oakland and lead EBI.

"Had someone asked me two months ago where I would be for the next school year, I would have said, quite easily, The American School Foundation in Mexico City," Fulk said. "Then I heard about a very exciting school in the San Francisco Bay Area that really caught my attention. I was particularly drawn to the community's core values of bilingualism, educational excellence, diversity, global citizenship and character. I was also compelled by the school's commitment to the Primary Years Programme of the International Baccalaureate."

PYP is the elementary school program of the International Baccalaureate (www.ibo.org/) curriculum, a rigorous academic curriculum based on international mindedness and inquiry-based learning. Fulk said he was impressed by the grassroots effort in creating EBI and also the commitment by the school’s families to maintain an environment that embraces both academic excellence and diversity.

"All that being said, when I began talking with and meeting members of the EBI community, I was thoroughly convinced that EBI would be a place for me to learn, grow and contribute," Fulk said. "EBI families are fortunate to belong to a community where people have come together to bring to life their hopes, dreams and beliefs for the best education for their children. I share their passion for this kind of education and feel privileged to be joining the EBI community next fall."

Fulk will visit the school again next month and will work closely with EBI interim head, Dr. Carol Per Lee, to make his transition smooth for the school, its teachers, staff, students and families. Prior to his work at the primary school in the American School Foundation, he worked at various independent schools in Mexico City as a teacher. He has also taught English as a second language in Chicago, Illinois. Fulk, who has spent most of his career in Mexico, is originally from Ohio and is currently completing a Doctor of Education degree from the University of Minnesota.

EBI (www.ebinternacional.org) is the first independent Spanish-English dual-immersion program in the state of California. EBI's nonprofit mission is to provide an excellent Spanish-English bilingual education based on the highest international academic standards in an environment that thrives on diversity, fosters global citizenship, and develops the character necessary to recognize that cultural uniqueness is the touchstone of our common humanity.

There are 112 students enrolled in pre-primary, kindergarten and first grade at the school, which is in its second year of operation. The school plans to add an additional grade each year until it reaches 8th grade.

In a dual immersion setting, the children are in a Spanish-only environment in the pre-primary grades. They receive one hour of English instruction in Kindergarten and 1st grade, and two hours in 2nd grade, after which they will be taught half their subjects in Spanish and the rest in English. The program ensures that children gain native fluency in both languages by the 8th grade. The school plans to add conversational Mandarin as a third language in the third grade.

For more information, please contact Elisa Batista at ebatista at ebinternacional.org or (415) 305-6217.