Parents Pick Up the Tab for Foreign Language Instruction at Elementary Schools

For many parents in the Katonah Lewisboro schools, the district-wide savings achieved from eliminating the Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES) program from this year's school budget were negated by paying out-of-pocket fees for classes.

FLES had been in place at the elementary schools for the last two years before it was nixed by the school board in order to save approximately $250,000 per year.

Now over 200 families are paying more than $70,000 for their children to study Spanish and other languages.

"I'm now writing a check for $350 to continue my third-grader's Spanish studies, plus I have the added inconvenience of taking him to class outside of normal school hours," said Stephanie Sanz, a Golden's Bridge resident. "It's not in my tax bill, but it's still out of my pocket."

Her son is enrolled in the morning enrichment program at Increase Miller Elementary School. Foreign language is now offered as a morning or afternoon activity at all four elementary schools.

Kris Fenton, who chairs the program at IMES, says there is a full class of 15 students for Spanish level 2 and that she was motivated to head the program for personal reasons.  "I wanted to make sure my son would be able to continue his study of Spanish which he was lucky enough to start back in first grade."

At Katonah Elementary, Carmen Seleme-McDermott runs the language enrichment program where 48 students have already signed up this year.  "The interest is definitely growing and parents want their kids to learn these languages," she says.  "We currently offer Spanish, French and in addition to that, we are the only school to have Chinese class. The students are learning not just the language, but the culture as well."  

And with 90 kids signed up at Lewisboro Elementary School for morning Spanish class and 48 more at Meadow Pond this semester alone, there appears to be ample demand in the community, according to their respective program leaders.

School board member Mark Lipton, a longtime proponent of FLES, says that although he supported the board's decision, he believes that if the district is truly committed to giving students the best elementary education possible, then foreign language must ultimately be offered in the early grades. 

"The evidence is overwhelming that learning a foreign language at a young age has enormous benefits—even in helping make better math and geography students," he says. 

Marty Abbott, the director of education at The American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages, agreed that younger was better for starting foreign language study.

She reported that nationally, 18.5 percent of students K-12 are enrolled in foreign language classes—a number she said was quite low relative to students in other countries around the world. Spanish is the most commonly studied grade-school language in the United States followed by French, German and Latin.

As for plans to include a proposal to return FLES to the 2011-12 school year budget, Lipton would only say that elementary foreign language study is definitely part of the "long-range plan for the district."