School Committee Starts Elementary School Foreign Languages Discussion

With Town Meeting running twice a week for the months of March and April, the School Committee has changed its usual schedule and only meets for one short hour before Town Meeting sessions.

Last Wednesday, March 27, the limited time duration did not stop the School Committee from attacking a substantive subject: That of foreign languages, which may soon be reintroduced to Lexington's elementary schools.

Elementary School Foreign Languages in the past

For many years beginning with 1952, Lexington schools have taught foreign languages in elementary grades. Up until the 1980s French was taught to elementary school students; then at the end of the 1990s students even had a choice between French and Spanish. In the later years, a Spanish language program was offered beginning with grade 3.

But in 2006, the last elementary school foreign language program was closed in the wake of a lost Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion override vote. Lexington has not taught foreign languages in the elementary schools since. Foreign language instruction now starts with Spanish, French or Mandarin in 6th grade.

This may soon change. Listening to community concerns, the School Committee has started to look at what it would take to bring back foreign languages to the elementary course, and to integrate that with the existing middle school foreign language program.

The Wednesday, March 27 School Committee Discussion

Speaking at the Wednesday meeting, School Committee member Mary Ann Stewart said she and her colleague Sandro Alessandrini have met with Assistant Superintendent Carol Pilarski and with elementary school principals to look at how foreign languages could be integrated within the existing school schedule.

Since the override vote in 2006, Stewart said, "A lot has happened in the intervening years to help target instruction and to extend time for English language and mathematics." In the discussion with the principals, Stewart said, "We looked at the ways the content is distributed across the school days and across the week."

Alessandrini said: "I was concerned that the schedule that we have is etched in stone, but I was assured that there's flexibility in the schedule."

School instruction already touches on familiarity with foreign cultures, Stewart said.

"Some things are happening in the arts," she said. "Various aspects are integrated into the visual arts component, as well as in music. There's some things happening in the social studies in terms of introduction to some language acquisition and learning about cultures. But it's not the same as a foreign language class."

A Feasibility Study Committee for Elementary School Foreign Languages

Alessandrini and Stewart proposed to form a committee tasked to look at the feasibility of introducing foreign languages in elementary schools. It was agreed that the feasibility study committee will have broad representation, including school officials, School Committee and other community members.

But the question was raised whether this committee would report to the superintendent - or whether it should be a subcommittee of the School Committee, operating within Open Meeting Law boundaries.

"Content is the chief business of the school," Stewart said. "I think staff and principals need to be completely engaged in this."

Regarding how the committee is chartered, "Elementary foreign languages is an issue that the community feels strongly about," Stewart said. "I don't know how we're going to do it but I think we need to have continued dialogue about this."

"Given what you just said," Chair Margaret Coppe responded, "It should probably be a committee that reports to Dr. Ash."

Superintendent Paul Ash suggested that the School Committee designate the members of the committee to work with him.

School Committee member Jessie Steigerwald asked whether the committee recommendation would be ready by the start of the next budget cycle.

"Once the committee starts to work," Ash said, "This is going to be a lot of work, because we have to look at the goals of the program, where do we find the time for the program, and how much money it is going to cost."

Ash expects communication with the School Committee will not have to wait until fall.

Audience Members Speaking Up

From the audience, Town Meeting member Dawn McKenna urged that the feasibility committee be set up as open and as broad as possible.

"I am seriously contemplating," McKenna said, "putting forward an amendment to the 2014 school budget to add sufficient money" for an elementary school foreign languages program.

"I would ask you to consider, when asked on Town Meeting floor, whether you would use the money for the intended purpose if the Town Meeting votes for the additional money," she said.

I myself rose to thank Stewart, Alessandrini and Ash for their work, and suggested that the feasibility committee start by looking at the foreign language curricular guidelines from the Massachusetts Department of Education.

Ashley McKenna mentioned that Lexington has two sister cities in Spanish speaking countries and one sister city in France. A foreign languages program, she said, "gives us the opportunity to build on that community."

"I would like to ask," Ashley McKenna said, "while you form the committee, that you include a wide variety of people not just from the school department, but also from the community to get a lot of perspective of both what this means during the school day, and what it means outside of the school day."

"My intention is that the meetings be open," Ash responded.