D-205 May Say 'Adios' Forever To Spanish In Grade Schools

ELMHURST, IL — The superintendent of Elmhurst School District 205 is recommending elementary schools do away with Spanish classes for good.

Last semester, the district announced the suspension of Spanish classes for third- through fifth-graders because of a shortage of teachers and substitutes as a result of the pandemic.

"It was not an easy decision to make," the district's administrators said in a message to teachers at the time.

On Tuesday, the district plans to present its recommendation to do away with elementary Spanish permanently. Superintendent Dave Moyer explained his reasoning for the recommendation in a memo to the school board.

As the elementary Spanish program is structured, it is not a prerequisite for middle school Spanish, nor does it advance proficiency in the language in any meaningful way, Moyer said in the memo.

He said families that are truly interested in their students becoming bilingual have the opportunity to take part in the district's dual-language Spanish immersion program.

Because of a middle school restructuring, students interested in becoming proficient in Spanish have the opportunity to take third-year Spanish by their freshman year.

"Neither of these opportunities existed when the elementary Spanish enrichment program for grades 3-5 was initially implemented," Moyer said.

Moyer also said the district should do away with elementary Spanish because the schools aren't adequately addressing health standards at the elementary grade level. The schools are interested in increasing the focus on "social emotional learning" standards in kindergarten through fifth grade, he said.

The school board is expected to vote on the Spanish recommendation at its Jan. 26 meeting.

In late September, Elmhurst Patch obtained the memo to teachers about the decision to suspend Spanish classes in elementary schools. That was before the news was announced to the public.

District officials were unhappy the memo was leaked to Patch and said it would "look into the premature sharing of information."

Patch submitted a public records request Friday to find out the outcome of the investigation.