The Ann Arbor School Board is back in action tonight after a month off. A large crowd is expected in support of World Language programs.
Teachers sent a letter to the board and administration expressing a deep concern regarding the district’s role in providing students an extensive World Language education. It laments the cuts in elementary schools last year and reducing staff in programs like Latin, Chinese, Arabic and German.
Board President Torchio Feaster says they support students learning multi-languages.
“However, our first responsibility as a board is our fiduciary responsibility to the community and to make sure we have a balanced budget. As long as I’m here, we’re going to do what we can do to ensure our budget remains balanced.”
Feaster says it isn’t practical to provide classes for a language that only a handful of students sign up for. He says the district is still on the state’s watch list and needs to continue to grow its fund balance.
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