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BFP Dec 14, 2005 article

Habla Espanol? Parlez vous Francais?

By Mariana Lamaison Sears

Correspondent

December 14, 2005

The Jericho Elementary School Board will meet tonight to decide whether to incorporate an elementary foreign-language curriculum in the school budget for the next academic year.

The estimated cost to implement the program is $22,846, said principal Graham Clarke. The cost was calculated following a curriculum draft presented Nov. 30 to teachers, parents and School Board members by Juliet Veve.

Veve was one of the three Chittenden East Supervisory Union full-time foreign-language teachers commissioned to work on the proposal over the summer. She said the draft was designed paying special attention to the Grade Level Expectations, part of the state education standards established in 2004.

At the November meeting, parents expressed concern about how much time per week it would take for a foreign-language class to be effective, and from which classes this time would be taken.

"We are looking for 40 minutes a week to meet the standards," Veve said. Clarke said the board is considering shortening social studies or library time. "It might work different for each grade," Clarke said.

Based on the recommendations from the curriculum team, the school estimated the cost, said John Alberghini, an assistant superintendent for Chittenden East Supervisory Union. "The teacher's salary is the biggest piece," he said.

The School Board will vote today on whether to include the language courses in the school budget. The budget will go to the voters for approval on Town Meeting Day in March.

Jericho Elementary School is a kindergarten-fourth-grade school with 272 students.

The draft plan is being tested at Brewster Pierce School in Huntington with 122 first- through fourth-grade students taking an hour a week of Spanish, Alberghini said. The proposal is designed to facilitate other languages, too, Veve said.

National standards require educators to connect and integrate the various subjects taught in the classroom, Veve said, and that was also considered when designing the program. "We want to have that link with what students are already doing in the elementary school curriculum," she said. Learning a second language will reinforce concepts taught in other classes. "The idea is to work together for a better-educated student," Veve said.

School Board member and parent Diane De Ruyck said the effort started about a year ago, pushed by parents who envisioned the benefits of early foreign-language education. "I feel personally that we need to look beyond today and into the future, and foreign language benefits everyone. Our world, our nation, our state, our community and our kids," De Ruyck said. School budget WHAT: Jericho Elementary School Board budget presentation

WHEN: 7 p.m. today

WHERE: School library

Postscript: The Jericho Elementary School board voted to add foreign language to the Town Meeting Warning. They expanded the recommendation from a grades 1-4 program to a K-4 program. It will be an up or down voice vote at Town Meeting on March 7, 2006.