As the Bethlehem Central Board of Education continued budget discussions last week, a group of parents came out to protest potential cuts to classes at the high school.
Parents of students who participate in the Lab School said cutting three of its classes would devastate the program. Others parents and students attended the meeting on Tuesday, April 8, to advocate for the Chinese language program.
Administrators said the classes were not technically being cut because of the budget, but because of low enrollment.
“There are 44 classes that aren’t running next year because of low enrollment,” said Assistant Superintendent Jody Monroe. “Nearly 400 kids from throughout the high school will be affected.”
The district’s policy is classes cannot be held with fewer than 17 students. Superintendent Tom Douglas said the money was no longer available to run such small classes.
Lab School parents were told at their monthly meeting changes may need to occur in the program and several classes were being cut, including French, Spanish 4 and Math 5. The plan was for Lab School students to be placed into language classes with the school’s general population. It would then be recommended for those wishing to take Math 5 to sign-up for advanced placement statistics or calculus.
Parents said the changes would adversely affect 100 students and significantly diminish how the program was structured 21 years ago. They were also upset they were not informed sooner about the changes.
“This school district prides itself on transparency, so why weren’t we told?” asked Concetta Youngblood of Slingerlands.
The main issue was cutting the language and math classes would take some teachers out of the Lab School. This means teachers would no longer be available to mentor students who are busy throughout the year writing their final paper and preparing the presentation that goes along with it. All of the students would then need to be split between the remaining teachers, leaving less one-on-one time.
“There is no way that four teachers can handle the work load of the sophomores, juniors, seniors and the freshman,” said a woman who was the parent of a Lab School student and the wife of a Lab School teacher. “Just that shift causes that problem.”
Others said having students take more classes outside the Lab School would burden then with more course work that would have to be made up when the Lab School is taken on enrichment trips.
Parents of students in the Chinese language program were also upset they were not forewarned about the upcoming change.
The school district has not only seen a drop in enrollment for Chinese classes, but has also had trouble keeping a teacher on staff. The plan was to phase out the program, with the district finding a way for high school students to continue classes to graduate and those in the middle school switching to Spanish or French.
Sixth grade students Aidan McNay and Morgan Leonard said they were just told last week they would not be allowed to take Chinese next year and were “shocked and dismayed.” They felt it was important to continue Chinese as it’s the No. 1 language in the world. Spanish is No. 6, and French is No. 10.
“This is something that not only effects sixth graders, but seventh through 10th grade throughout the district, said McNay. “We find this very aggravating.”
The pair asked to be allowed to survey the fifth grade to see how many students would like to take Chinese next year, and if there would be enough for a class.
With the Lab School’s unique situation, members of the Board asked if it would be possible to change the plan that would see students mixed into the general population. Monroe said there was no equivalent for Math 5, but they could schedule some students to possibly take language classes inside the Lab School.
As for Chinese, Monroe said students are only required to take one language class in middle school, but Bethlehem offers language all three years. She felt most students would be able to catch up with their peers by high school.
Board member Charmaine Wijeyesinghe asked if there was anyway something could be “cobbled together” so students who already began taking Chinese could finish through high school. This would then be a true phase out of the program, and the district’s commitment would be met. Monroe said she would try to have an answer by the first meeting in May.
“The problem is we’re trying to be everything to everyone, and it’s getting at that point where we can’t be everything to everyone,” said Douglas. “ Soon, everyone will have to recognize the new realities.”