The German teaching position at Lawrence High School has been cut, according to the Lawrence school district.
Free State High School and Lawrence Virtual School are collaborating on potential ways LHS students can still take German next year, but no decisions have been made, district spokesperson Julie Boyle said Wednesday.
Boyle said LHS students’ enrollment in the course dropped, affecting the school’s staffing allocation for the 2024-25 year. LHS administrators decided to eliminate the full-time equivalent (FTE) teaching position assigned to German as part of budget reductions.
Another language program, Latin, faced the same fate in recent years. As part of 2022 budget cuts, 10 full-time teaching positions were cut, and one of them was the Latin teacher shared between LHS and Free State.
“Like our own households, public schools also must make difficult choices when balancing needs and wants with limited available funds,” Boyle said via email. “District enrollment drives state funding. Building enrollments determine staffing allocations. Student course enrollment choices drive high school offerings. We understand individuals’ concerns about course offerings that are important to them; everything our schools offer is important to someone.”
A few people spoke to Lawrence school board members about the cut during the board’s meeting on Tuesday.
LHS student Patrick Thomas told the board Monday that “I have greatly enjoyed the program over the course of my freshman year and would greatly enjoy to see it continue further into high school.”
Some have also been concerned about the impact of cutting or reducing language programs on students’ participation in the Sister Cities program. Sister Cities Lawrence sponsors student travel exchanges and cultural learning opportunities, and one of Lawrence’s sister cities is Eutin, Germany. Bill Keel, Sister Cities Lawrence chair, spoke to the board Tuesday about that.
Referring to Sister Cities, Boyle said, “The Lawrence school district, while supportive of the program and its goals, is not directly involved with it.”
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Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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