No 'au revoir' just yet: Penn-Trafford to keep French program, for now

French language courses at Penn-Trafford School District won’t be going away anytime soon.

After previously announcing the program would be phased out because of a lack of enrollment and the retirement of the district’s longtime high school French teacher, the Penn-Trafford School Board decided last week to continue the program, with a few changes.

To make up for the retiring teacher, other teachers in the district who are certified to teach French will fill in, Superintendent Matthew Harris said. Classes past the second level of French will have to have at least 10 students in them to be held, he said.

“Unfortunately, the last couple of years, we have kept a lot of classes alive with only two (to) five kids,” he said. “We are trying to increase enrollment, and if we can increase enrollment, we will keep the program. If we can’t, then we’ll have to look again.”

The French 1 and 2 classes have not been as much of an issue in the past with enrollment, he said.

“We’re going to bring in (French) 1 again, and see where we are in two years,” Harris said.

Previously, the French classes would have been phased out over a four-year period, so that students currently in the French program would have been able to continue until graduation.

According to the previous announcement, enrollment in all foreign language classes across the district “has seen a considerable drop.”

“In the 2022-2023 school year, we have nine classes with an enrollment of five or fewer students,” it read. “There are currently 84 students enrolled in five levels of French in grades 8-12, only 5% of the student population of those grades.”

Support for the program

The move comes after an online petition created by Trafford parent and Norwin language teacher Danielle Llerena received 342 votes from locals in support of keeping the French program at the district.

Llerena attended the meeting Monday and thanked the board for changing their minds.

“I have seen the benefits, from teaching (for) 18 years, of having a French, German and Spanish program at a school. Hopefully, that can grow in the upcoming years,” she said. “I just really thank you all for reconsidering that decision. Let’s see how the numbers grow.”

She noted that at Norwin, the French 1 class has 51 students in it for next year. Numbers of students moving forward in foreign language classes have dropped since the pandemic started, she noted.

“A lot of students don’t think they can handle the levels going up, just from the online experience,” she said. “I was hoping that you guys took that into consideration to hope the numbers can grow after we phase out of the covid years.”

Lydia Myers, a Penn-Trafford graduate, also thanked the board and said she was a “second-generation French student” at the district — both she and her father took French as Penn-Trafford students.

“Allowing students the most choice that they can possibly have when choosing a language is really important,” said Myers, who noted that she went on to learn Spanish and American Sign Language and is currently studying Hebrew. “I don’t necessarily use French every day, but it is a foundational steppingstone.”