Posted: June 17, 2009

It's likely that elementary-age students will begin to learn another language when they come back to school in the fall.

Greendale students will receive 75 minutes of Spanish language instruction per week under an initiative that is part of the proposed budget for the 2009-10 school year that received preliminary School Board approval this week.

The budget will not be finalized until October, but based on the board's approval of the budget framework, the district will implement the elementary language program for the 2009-10 school year, said Kim Amidzich, the district's director of assessment and learning.

An elementary world language program was one of several recommendations from community members, faculty, administrators and School Board members who developed the district's strategic plan last year.

Committee members felt it was important to increase the global awareness of students, and the language program would help accomplish that, Amidzich said. Elementary students currently do not take foreign language classes.

All part of learning effort

That went along with the district's own research that showed foreign language at that age helps students' academics, she said.

Foreign language classes in elementary schools are common outside Wisconsin, Amidzich said, and in the last few years have popped up in state schools, including several in the Milwaukee area.

Shorewood is one such school district. The district's demographics are similar to Greendale, but its test scores were slightly higher, she said.

When Greendale officials examined possible reasons for the test score discrepancy, Shorewood's elementary world language program was one of the things that jumped out.

Parental support

Even before the strategic planning sessions and the district's research, some parents had lobbied for elementary foreign language, Amidzich said.

"I know our families are really excited about it," she said.

Ken Mirecki, a Greendale resident who also serves on the district's budget committee, spoke on the importance of foreign language during a discussion on the budget at the School Board meeting Monday.

"This is a global economy," he said. "We should have more foreign language in the curriculum, not less."

Funding concessions

To fund the initiative, the board cut an elementary guidance position, reduced a full-time elementary librarian to part time and reduced the French and German sections at the middle and high school.

The French and German reductions line up with student enrollment in those languages, district officials said.

The elementary guidance counselor had gone to classroom to classroom at each of the three elementary schools for 30-minute lessons, but that left limited time for one-on-one counseling and support, Amidzich said.

To find time for Spanish, the district eliminated the lessons, but will increase the amount of social work so students can get individual help if needed, she said.