By Peter Sclafani, Staff Writer
Three teachers of Chinese — the first for the school district — were hired by the school board on May 21 and June 11.
The board will introduce Mandarin Chinese and Spanish into the elementary school curriculum starting this fall. Facing a loss in state aid and property tax hikes, the school district cut world language in the lowest grades as part of a 60-plus member staff reduction in the 2010-11 budget.
Kai Kang, Connie Zeng and Shu Zhang will be the first teachers in the program. Ms. Zhang and Ms. Zeng, who hold master’s degrees, will be paid $56,465 per year. Ms. Kai, who has a bachelor’s degree, will earn $52,765.
In deciding what languages to teach, a language task force considered such factors as Spanish being the second most-spoken language in the United States and projected China’s economic strength.
”We have a responsibility to prepare our students for the kind of world we live in now,” said World Language District Supervisor Enrique Pincay.
Both the Chinese and Spanish teachers will be assigned to two schools and teach one-half of a year at each one.
