LETTER: Support the school budget while opposing language program cuts
May 14, 2024To the Community:
My name is Rebecca Chartrand. I teach French at Brookside Primary School. I own a home in Waterbury Center. I am also a mom to two Brookside Primary School students. I attended the Harwood Unified Union School District School Board meeting on May 8 knowing that the HUUSD administration would be proposing a third budget to go to voters.
What I didn’t expect was for them to be eliminating the entire elementary world language program K-6. This decision made by the HUUSD administration affects all five elementary schools and Crossett Brook Middle School.
I am going to walk you through how drastic the effects will be on the people in all six of these schools and on my colleagues at Harwood Union Middle/High School.
Let’s talk about the students first. I can really only speak to the students at Brookside since that is where I work. I see the entire student body (K-4) except for Pre-K two times a week. On certain days, I have up to nine different classes in and out of my classroom. I see roughly 300 students twice a week!
The elimination of this program also results in laying off four teachers at the bottom of the World Language seniority list. This not only impacts the four people who are losing their jobs, but also the rest of the World Language Department! My colleagues are all super-talented people who work really hard for their students every day, and they are good at the roles that they have. Does it make sense for one person who has been teaching elementary to get shuffled up to high school? Not really. Are they going to be super-comfortable with that? We are all certified Pre-K to 12 or 7-12, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we want to jump from an elementary job to a high school job.
Lastly, I want to speak to what Superintendent Dr. Mike Leichliter said in the last school board meeting. He tried to justify cutting the elementary World Language program by stating, “It’s a good program, it’s not an immersion program, so language-acquisition wise, it’s not the best way for students to gain fluency in a language...”
First of all, the goal of this program is not to be an immersion program or gain fluency. Its purpose is to expose students to other languages, places, and cultures around the world. The elementary world language program is another opportunity within our district to promote the commitment that we made to equity and diversity. By getting rid of this program, we are going backward.
In addition, here is a quote from The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages:
“Since research shows that an early language learning experience generally results in the development of native or near-native pronunciation and intonation, ACTFL recommends that students be provided the opportunity to learn a second language as early as possible in school. This early language learning experience not only helps to develop native-like pronunciation but also promotes higher levels of proficiency if the student continues in a well-articulated sequence of language learning. Research corroborates additional benefits including strengthening of literacy in students’ first language, raising standardized test scores in other subject areas, and developing comfort with cultural differences.”
I am pleading to all of the parents of my wonderful Brookside Primary School students and in the other district towns to please email the school board to request that Dr. Mike look elsewhere for cuts, instead of eliminating a program that impacts the entire K-6 student body.
The board can be reached at: cen-huusdboard@huusd.org. If you want to email Dr. Mike directly, here is his contact: mleichliter@huusd.org.
Please vote yes on this third budget on May 30, while also taking the time to oppose the elimination of elementary world language.
Rebecca Chartrand
Waterbury