Is bringing in two part time foreign language teachers the way to go?

As the year comes to an end, students heads are filled with thoughts about next years’ classes and their plans coming forward. And the new freshman? Well they aren’t too worried because they practically know what classes they will be receiving in the year to come. But do they really?

This year 80 freshman registered for Spanish One and did get appointed to the class. Meaning that if they are going for a honors diploma, they must take the class their sophomore, junior, and senior year. The demand for Spanish One is so high that each class has at least 27 students crammed into it currently and next year could be even more due to the fact that the freshman who did not get into it this year are registestering for it again their sophomore year.

Abby Whitaker (22) said, “I didn’t get in and it’s a little annoying that I have to take it next year instead. So now I have to also take the class through to my senior year.”

World Language Department Head Aleena Griffin explains how the administration is bringing in two part time foreign language teacher. “The districts’ current solution is to have an Aims teacher come in to teach classes to fill in those gaps and so students taking Spanish One with her will get college credit. But the students taking Spanish One with senorita [Janette Rodriguez] or me will not,” Griffin said.

The issue with this is that only students taking the class with the Aims teacher will receive college credit, while students taking the same class with Griffin or Rodriguez cannot. The Aims teacher will also be part time, meaning that they would only be at school a few days a week. The second solution is bringing in a different foreign language with yet another part time French teacher.

Next year holds many mysteries for the foreign language department. Although this will solve the problem of having too many students for too little classes, it causes other problems. Such as the fact that only students taking Spanish with the Aims teacher will be receiving college credit and that the teachers will be part time, meaning only a few classes will fit into their schedules.