The story
The school board decided at their last meeting (on 12/16) to cut middle school Latin from the proposed budget. Many students and their parents are upset. And vocal.
Explain.
With a $2.4 million difference between this year’s budget and the working 2021 budget, Mr. Fournier and his team need to find some way to cut it down. Eliminating Latin reduces the budget by about $32,800. This is 1.4% of the difference. 98.6% to go. You can do it, Mr. Fournier!
So why Latin?
Lurgio enrollment is dropping. Mr. Fournier and his team decided to focus on retaining funding for core areas: reading, writing, and math, rather than spending to provide more choices for students, like multiple world languages. Reductions in these “choices” would save from cutting teachers. By keeping existing core teachers, class sizes would get smaller, and hopefully help with proficiency in the core areas.
Why do people care?
We know. It’s Latin. It is a dead language. But apparently a lot of students take and love Latin. According to students at the meeting, the BHS enrollment has increased from 65 to 112 students, and the Lurgio administration had to turn students away for the past two years. Latin club has 57 members, and Latin Honor Society (which exists?) has 22 members. We think they’ve got some sort of Dead Poets Society thing going.
Is that it?
Not entirely. The decision will also (somewhat) affect IB. Currently, the district offers five levels of Latin, with students taking the IB exam at the end. The first level is split between seventh and eighth grade. By eliminating middle school Latin, only four levels will be offered. However, students can still take the IB Latin SL exam. While the fifth level better prepares students and keeps open the potential for HL in the future, it technically is not essential. But the content for the other levels would need to be increased to compensate. Because students are expected to be at a certain baseline level before beginning the diploma program.
What now?
Latin students aren’t giving up. They’re taking their unusually large army to the deliberative session, hoping to get the issue on the ballot, and a majority vote in March to re-add the item to the budget. We suggest joining forces with the girls lacrosse team.
The Runaway
It seems like the board is looking to keep the taxpayers happy…are they feeling the PTSD from last March?
What to say…
When you’re in need of Friday night entertainment because hockey plays on Saturday…
Umm, basketball? The boys team is 1-1 right now, but it’s really early. We’re not judging.The captains this year are Connor Butts, Justin O’Neill, and Jordan Dyer. The Union Leader forgot to mention Bedford in their pre-season review…whatever, we’re over it. The paper did mention some big competitors reaching 6’5”…O’Neill is 6’7”… they’ve got nothing on us. After last year’s unsuccessful season, having a 5-14 record, and not making playoffs, the boys are ready. The captains are hopeful, they believe their offseason practices, hard work, and dedication will pay off this season. There are seven returning players, starters including Tim Greene and O’Neill, and some promising new juniors to varsity this year including JT Delacy, Camden Roberts, and Danny Kulesza. A big competition for the dawgs is Nashua North. As for coaching, the boys say Coach Elmendorf is not as scary as he seems, and that he is “one of the nicest people off the court.” So far the boys have had a W at Nashua South and a tough loss to (we hate to say it…) BG. The boys play their home opener against Nashua North this Tuesday.
When this budget season is stressing you for non-Latin reasons…
Screw Latin! Save the turf! All of the athletic maintenance items (turf, gym floors, etc.) have been put into a separate warrant article to vote on. Last year, and originally at the beginning of this budget season, the items were a part of the main budget. So what does this mean? The items will be voted on in March separately from the budget. If the budget doesn’t pass, these items could still get funded. But who knows what happens if it doesn’t pass. The board squeezed another year out of the turf last year. We’re not sure if they can do it again…
Things to Know
For that Bedford Pride
Taste of Bedford is on Tuesday at 6:00.
Already that Time
College info session for junior parents on Wednesday at 6:30.
In Case You Wanted Thursday Night Entertainment…
Winter Band Concert on Thursday at 6:30.