Hinsdale Central, South 'Sunsetting' German Programs

HINSDALE, IL – Hinsdale High School District 86's board voted unanimously last week for "sunsetting" German courses at both campuses.

And they agreed to add American Sign Language to Hinsdale Central's curriculum.

The German decision was the result of two factors – the program's enrollment is plunging and the two main teachers are retiring at the end of the school year.

At Central, 89 students are enrolled in German courses now, compared with nearly 150 five years ago.

At South, 16 are in the courses now, down from 24.

The schools have had to combine different levels of German in one class because of low enrollment – which is known as "stacking" in school jargon.

The district has struggled to find new German teachers. It has been following leads nationwide and around the world, Superintendent Michael Lach told the board at last week's meeting.

These days, he said, finding German teachers is so hard they are compared to unicorns.

With sunsetting, the district will let current students take German through the rest of their high school years, but won't let any new students into the program.

The district employs a third German teacher who teaches the language part time and plans to retire at the end of the next school year.

As for American Sign Language, it has been taught for years at South because a regional special education cooperative houses a program for deaf students there.

The larger Central has a more extensive selection of courses than South. That is something South residents have long complained about.

But Central residents, including board members, have noted South offers a few courses that Central does not – prominent among them American Sign Language.

The board voted on sunsetting German and adding sign language to Central as a package.

In a few years, the state will require students to have two years of world languages. After German goes away, the district will have four world languages – sign, Spanish, French and Latin.

As for German, Lyons Township High School offers such courses, while York High School does not, according to their programs of studies.