LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Tuesday rain did not keep away Highland Middle School students and parents from showing up to the Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) Board meeting in protest of the middle school cutting the Spanish class.
In a statement sent to WHAS11, JCPS Chief of Communications Carolyn Callahan said:
"Due to Highland’s enrollment being lower than projected, the school was overstaffed and required to reduce certified staff by two positions. The principal chose to eliminate the Spanish position and one other in order to retain teachers in required, core subjects like math and English. Highland is working to provide an online Spanish class to students who are interested. Right now, the students have a Spanish-speaking substitute teacher in the class while the plan for the online teaching is finalized."
One of the students who addressed the school board face-to-face at Tuesday's meeting was Cora Holcomb Kreiner, a seventh grader at Highland.
"Right now, we’re doing an online Spanish class that hasn’t really been set up yet. While I’m sure it will still do amazing, right now we’re just limited to reading articles and answering questions, which is easily circumvented," she said. "Currently, since we haven’t gotten it set up yet, we’re just doing substitutes which don’t have the same impact that a normal teacher would."
Laura Escobar-Ratliff is a parent to a Highland student and the Parent Teacher Student Association president for the middle school.
"I am Latina, and I was raised bilingual," she said. "I grew up in JCPS, elementary, middle and high school, but I also grew up in a time where socio-politically, it was encouraged to have a second language. I was often ostracized, made fun of, and there was a lot of assimilate or hide. I don't want that for my daughter."
Escobar-Ratliff said the cut class goes beyond impacting the current middle schoolers.
"This impacts high school. It impacts testing into college and college credit and career readiness. This is a ripple effect, and we are shortchanging our students. How is that acceptable?" she said.
Escobar-Ratliff addressed the school board hoping to gain their support and intervention.
JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio said the school board does not have any influence over the decision, the board can only approve the number of teacher positions within the school.
"If the site-based council, which is a representative of teachers, parents, administration had made that decision, they could have made a decision that another teacher would have been overstaffed, so to speak," Pollio said.
He said the former Highland Middle School Spanish teacher was reassigned to another Jefferson County school.
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