In late May, members of the Board of Education had to rethink the ICSD budget, following the veto of the originally proposed budget in an Ithaca-wide vote. The second proposed budget, which passed on June 18, includes various efforts to save money. This includes the removal of two of the five foreign language programs in ICSD: Mandarin and Latin.
The Mandarin program, taught by Liya Zhou, was piloted at the ICSD middle schools in fall of 2021. What started with twenty-five students in 2021 has become thirty-four in the most recent year’s sixth grade language selections. Students participated in celebrations for the Chinese New Year and marched in the Ithaca Parade this past year. Many students were very excited to see an Asian language coming to the district and were looking forward to its upcoming arrival at the high school. However, funding has been cut before these students could see that wish carried out.
There was a very strong response from students and teachers in the district following the news that the Mandarin program would be terminated. A meeting was held on June 25 for community members to share their desires to keep the program running. Two petitions, one for adults and the other for students, were also passed around and collected over five hundred signatures in total.
In comments written on the petition, parents and teachers demonstrated a collective outrage that the Mandarin program would be canceled. A community member stated in the petition, “The program enrolls and benefits both heritage language learners […] and students learning it as a foreign language. Eliminating this program does not seem to align with ICSD’s emphases on identity, diversity, and anti-marginalization.” Another added, “Most days it is a struggle to get [my son] to even want to get up and go to school. But Mandarin has been one of the classes that he has the most passion for.” The students had comments as well, sharing a similar sentiment. One student wrote, “Mandarin was a special class because it let me connect with my Asian heritage at school; no other class [I took] was taught by an Asian teacher or had as many other Asian students in it. Taking it away takes away my community, my heritage, and the one class that truly interested me.”
As opposed to the relatively recent Mandarin program, Latin has been taught at IHS since the founding of the school. Since then, Latin’s class sizes have dwindled. Only a total of twenty students took Latin last year. Despite this, the petition for the course’s preservation has around two hundred signatures.
Latin’s small number of students are devoted to the language, however. Ruby LaRocca ’23 wrote passionately on her love of the class and teacher in a recent blog post following the news that the program would be terminated. She said that it was one of the last remaining preservers of classic literature and education in the school district. She also wrote of the Latin teacher, Suzzane Nussbaum: “She offers the kind of education you wish you could have in every discipline, I told curious parents and students—an energetic expert’s greathearted warmth coupled with lofty expectations.” For Nussbaum’s students, the loss of Latin will not only mean the loss of access to language education, but also the loss of access to education on classics and the loss of a valued teacher.
The cancellation of the Latin and Mandarin programs also puts some students in a difficult position. Students at the high school who want to get a Regents diploma with advanced designation must first take three consecutive years of one language. As of the time of writing, the only option to earn these credits for Latin students now entering their junior or senior year is an online course. Most freshmen who previously took Mandarin will likely have to take Spanish 1, now the only available beginner’s course in languages.
Currently, it is uncertain what the future of Mandarin and Latin in ICSD will look like. It is clear that parents, teachers, and students have found value in these programs and are frustrated to see them go.
A student from Boynton Middle School addresses the Board of Education alongside his Mandarin teacher. Megan Zerez/Ithaca Voice