Along with the possible consolidation of schools, Burke County Public Schools will more than likely see foreign language programs cut from middle and high schools.
Rexanna Lowman, the director of secondary education, said the high schools would revert to two foreign languages, Spanish and French, while the middle schools would lose all foreign language programs.
Freedom High School would retain one German class, Lowman said. But the remaining high schools would lose their German programs and East Burke and Draughn also will lose their Latin programs.
Lowman cited the schools’ $12 million budget deficit and smaller high school populations as reasons for the cuts.
“None of this is good. None of it is anything that the system wants to do but, because of our budget shortfalls we’ve got to do something,” Lowman said.
Lowman said students could still take foreign language classes, including in languages not offered in the county such as Mandarin Chinese, online through North Carolina Virtual Public High School.
Lowman said Spanish classes average about 90 students per semester while French classes are a bit lower.
This semester, German programs were offered at all four high schools, but had a low number of students. Freedom had 44 students, East Burke 28, Patton 17 and Draughn six.
The higher number of students at Freedom is due to the multiple German classes offered, Lowman said.
Another factor in cutting German programs is the loss of grant money, Lowman said. Previously the schools received a Foreign Language Assistance Program that paid for two German teachers’ salaries this year.
Joachim Koerner, the German teacher at Freedom, said German has been offered at Freedom for about 30 years while the exchange program has lasted for 20 years.
Koerner said to keep the program alive, the people in the community need to speak up because the decision is out of his hands.
“I understand that there have to be cuts made and that we need to increase the enrollment in German,” Koerner said. “It’s very important at this time and day that if people feel strongly about the program, they need to go out there and recruit students to take German.”
Koerner compiled a fact sheet about the impact of the German program at Freedom.
Among the items listed are that almost 300 students from Morganton have benefited from the German exchange program, GAPP. Students spend four weeks in an intensive language and culture program in Germany for $2,200 which includes travel, tours, meals and accommodations.
Middle schools will also lose their foreign language programs because colleges focus on foreign language courses in high school, Lowman said.
Spanish and French were taught at all the middle schools and German was additionally taught at some of the schools, Lowman said.
Lowman said administration would look at registration numbers in April before it makes final decisions on cuts to foreign language programs.
“Every program we cut is painful,” Lowman said. “None of them are easy decisions.”
Lowman said that there could be other programs facing cuts due to budget constraints but did not elaborate.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement