By larry ramer
Staff Writer
MARLBORO — The Marlboro K-8 school district’s foreign language program will undergo some significant changes beginning in September, the Board of Education was told at its July 7 meeting.
Victoria Andalucia, the curriculum supervisor of world languages, social studies and music programs, told the board that second-graders will no longer be offered Spanish.
Pupils in fourth grade will be able to take French classes for the first time. In addition, all of the elementary school students will receive two foreign language classes every six school days, instead of the two classes per week that were offered last year. Sixth-graders will take Spanish I or French IA classes every day, and these courses will become core academic subjects. Last year, sixth-graders took these classes on a very limited basis, Andalucia said.
In 2004-05, fifth-graders will be offered French for the first time. During the 2005-06 academic year, the administration hopes to introduce a Spanish II class and make honors classes a part of its world language program.
The district is also adding new world language staff members for the upcoming school year. Two new Spanish teachers and a part-time French teacher will be hired for the middle schools, and a part-time French position will be filled at the elementary school level, Superintendent of Schools David Abbott said.
The Marlboro school district will have a total of 21 Spanish teachers and four French positions next year, the superintendent explained. The district will also hire six new world language instructional assistants for its two middle schools. These instructional assistants will be placed in foreign language classes that have a large number of students who take special classes in basic skills, or receive other special services. However, they will help all the students in the foreign language classes in which they work.
By state law, all middle school students must receive foreign language instruction, Abbott said.