Readers Tell District 109 To Restore French

When Deerfield Public Schools District 109 chose to suspend French as one of the two foreign languages offered to students at Shepard and Caruso Middle Schools in the coming term, more than 40 people came to the April 29 Board of Education meeting to protest.

Spanish will be taught to all incoming sixth graders.

Earlier: Should District 109 Restore French to Curriculum

In the stories Patch published on the issue, at least 64 reader comments were written expressing reasons to retain the program or agreeing with the Board’s decision to suspend it and study the outcome in the coming school year.

Of the 16 people who responded to the unscientific survey, 14 wanted French offered to incoming sixth graders and two do not.

One reason the District gave for its decision—a drop in interest—is supported by the foreign language enrollment at Deerfield High School.

Of the 1,381 students enrolled in foreign language classes at the high school, according to Township High School District 113 Communications Director Natalie Kaplan, 1,085 take Spanish, 165 study French, 76 are learning Chinese and 55 are being taught Hebrew.

Regardless of those numbers, there is a core of parents and community members who are passionate about the continuation of French study. When reader Janet Stern pushed her son to take Spanish, he was able to persuade her French was the better choice for him.

“While Spanish is spoken by more people, French is spoken in more countries and used more in international business than Spanish,” Stern wrote of her son’s power of persuasion. “Thanks to the strong base of French in District 109, he continued learning French in District 113.”

Now that her son is continuing his studies at Georgetown University, he is surprising his teachers with his French aptitude.

 “The Georgetown professors on his oral board were shocked to discover that he was only a freshman,” Stern wrote. “He would not have that proficiency if not for the opportunity to take French in middle school.”

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