Should the Whitefish elementary school

curriculum have a focus on foreign language?

It’s an idea school board trustee Dave

Fern wants the district to look into.

Fern suggested at the Jan. 10 board

meeting that the district consider the possibility of adopting a

foreign language immersion program that would provide more

instruction than a few lessons a week.

“If you want to obtain a second or

third language before they leave the district, there needs to be

some time put into it,” he said.

There are benefits to learning a second

language beyond cognitive learning, Fern said, and fluency in a

foreign language could be useful to students once they leave the

classroom.

“As we move into the 21st century

learning this is something that has come to the top,” he said.

Trustee Charlie Abell said he agreed

with the idea.

“We need to see what language is

important and take a broad look at what we need to do,” Abell

said.

The board directed superintendent Kate

Orozco to look into the possibility of creating an immersion

foreign language program by the fall of 2013.

Fern acknowledged the budgetary

challenges of such a curriculum change.

“I’ve wrestled with the finances of

this,” he said “This has to be revenue neutral. It would be a

mistake to use grants for this — we want sustainability.”

Fern suggested hiring teachers that are

not only certified to teach at the elementary level, but who are

also bilingual as a way to create a foreign language program.

A few trustees noted that adding

foreign language to the curriculum might also set Whitefish apart

from other schools and gain interest in the district from

parents.

“Whitefish should be the best,” Abell

said. “We should be No. 1 in the state.”