AURORA | Say it any way you want, the love for this new local school is already strong, parents and educators say.
Aurora Public Schools’ first dual-language magnet school opened up last month, and teachers say they’re excited to provide rigorous bilingual education to families across Aurora.
The Escuela Bilingüe Betty Benavidez, or the Betty Benavidez Bilingual School in English, was named after the first Latina elected to the Colorado Legislature in 1971. The school’s namesake sponsored the “Bilingual Bicultural Act” that became the structural underpinning for much of Colorado’s bilingual and multicultural education. Benavidez died in 2013.
For those yet to learn Spanish at the school, it’s pronounced, “Escuela (es-SKWAY-luh) Bilingüe (buh-LEEN-gway) Betty Benavidez,” according to APS spokesperson Corey Christiansen.
The school’s principal, Anabel Rafoul, said that it being a magnet school and an accessible public option was historic and significant for Aurora. The Hispanic and Latino community accounts for 31% of Aurora’s total population, according to the most recent census data.
“We’re not a typical neighborhood school, so families can come from all areas within Aurora Public Schools,” Rafoul said. “The number of students in the district who speak Spanish as a first language — we’re talking about over 20,000 students. We have about 40,000 students enrolled in (district) schools, so half of the (student) population has Spanish as their first language.”
Rafoul has been a teacher for more than two decades and originally came to Colorado from Mexico to work in bilingual education. She received her master’s degree in Linguistically Diverse Education from the University of Colorado Boulder. Over the course of her career, Rafoul has been an elementary school teacher, a biliteracy instructional coach, assistant principal, and principal.
Magnet schools differ from other public schools in that they are not constrained to the boundary of a neighborhood. Rather, like the Escuela Bilingüe Betty Benavidez, students from across the district can access the program. Beyond that, magnet schools have specialized academic focuses and programs that cater to students interested in a particular area of study or way of learning.
For the Betty Benavidez school, that means students are integrated into a dual-language program from an early age.
“We are a dual-language model, which means we have students from preschool through fifth grade who start learning in Spanish. Ninety percent of the day would be in Spanish and 10% in English,” Rafoul said, adding that it looks different for preschool students. Then, as students progress in grades, the ratio of Spanish and English begins to equalize. Going from a 90-10 ratio in preschool to 80-20 in first grade, up until it’s a 50/50 program when students reach the fifth grade.
“We’re always going to include English literacy,” Rafoul said, explaining that some classes would be taught in English and some in Spanish as students progress.
Rafoul told the Sentinel that, after a year of doing operational planning, having their first class of kids has been fantastic to see.
“We have 123 students right now because we only have three grades. We’ll continue to grow until we reach fifth grade,” Rafoul said. “But just having everything we did last year and having students in the building with staff, it’s been great.”
Being such a small school, Rafoul said, educators can work more directly with families and parents and, so far, students have loved learning Spanish and learning in Spanish.
Rafoul excitedly told the Sentinel that they had recently hired a music teacher and were expanding their library, all resources that should enrich students’ education.
For Rafoul, the purpose of starting dual language education programs early allows for students to get a better understanding of the language and grow up with it as part of their lives.
The 2027-2028 school year magnet application for La Escuela Bilingüe Betty Benavidez and for magnet schools across Aurora Schools starts Nov. 13.