MANCHESTER, N.H. – The German Language program isn’t leaving Manchester Public Schools, at least not yet anyway.
A motion to phase out the program during the Manchester Board of School Committee meeting failed by a 13-2 vote, with only Arthur Beaudry (Ward 9) and Joseph Lachance (At-Large) voting in the affirmative.
Beaudry expressed concerns with a projected $9 million shortfall for the upcoming fiscal year and also noted that the Manchester School District offers its high schoolers over 300 classes, more than even larger school districts such as Boston.
The proposal came out of the BOSC Teaching and Learning Committee after it was discovered that just 59 students are currently enrolled in the German Language classes at Manchester Central and Manchester Memorial High Schools. If the proposal had passed, students currently enrolled in German classes would be allowed to progress to higher levels, with levels slowly discontinued as the current students eventually graduate. The proposal would not impact exchange students coming from German-speaking countries.
While the Teaching and Learning Committee unanimously recommended the phase out, Peter Perich (Ward 8) said he only hesitantly supported the recommendation then and felt unsure now as well, questioning whether the enrollment numbers reflect the true value of the program.
Dr. Nicole Leapley (Ward 11) asked if the enrollment was low due in part to the fact that it was not offered at Manchester West or the Manchester School of Technology. She added that removing a foreign language program went against the grain of proposed dual-language immersion programs in Manchester’s schools.
James O’Connell (At-Large) believed that once it is removed it will be difficult to reinstate in the future and additional data on enrollment regarding all classes is needed to make an appropriate decision on the program.
“I think we’re taking a precipitous action based on a series of circumstances in a moment of time rather than planning for the future of foreign languages in the city,” he said.
O’Connell later added that any reductions in class offerings are counterproductive in attempts to contrast Manchester’s programs to strong foreign language programs at nearby high schools such as Merrimack and Pinkerton.
“To me we’re either going forward as a district or declining, we’re going forward or backward,” he said.
O’Connell’s assessment that more analysis was needed before a decision could be made found support from James Porter (Ward 1) and Kathleen Kelley-Arnold (Ward 2), with Arnold recalling the three years of German her son took in Manchester’s schools.
Jeremy Dobson (Ward 5) said he was unsure if program might have had more enrollment if more focus was given at Central and others such as Leslie Want (Ward 4) and Karen Soule (Ward 3) believed that German could receive more support if it fit better into the graduation requirements for high school students.
A motion sending the proposal back to the Teaching and Learning Committee to re-examine it and provide a list of enrollment in other courses for review passed unanimously outside of a no vote from Lachance.
