East Chapel Hill Latin teacher warns course cuts are shrinking elective offerings
Summary
Teacher Jenny Hoffman told the board that Latin and other elective courses are being cut or understaffed and asked the district for enrollment transparency and teacher recruitment to preserve award-winning electives.
Jenny Hoffman, a Latin teacher at East Chapel Hill High School, told the school board she is unsure whether she will have a job next year and urged the district to explain why Latin and other elective courses are being reduced.
"Why are Latin classes being systematically cut across the district despite assurances that this is in fact not the case?" Hoffman asked. She said Latin I will be offered next year only at Smith Middle School’s LEAP program unless the district acts, and she called on the district to use initial student enrollment requests as the baseline for determining offerings and to involve classroom teachers in allotment and staffing decisions.
Hoffman said enrollment numbers support offering Latin I at more schools and asked the district to recruit teachers to fill vacant positions so courses can run in person rather than relying on NCVPS (North Carolina Virtual Public School) offerings. She also listed other electives — art, chorus, band, orchestra and French — as facing cuts, reduced grade-level offerings or understaffing.
Board members acknowledged her concerns and asked the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Association of Educators (CHCAE) president, Brian Lank, to take the specific questions back to his organization for formal comment. Lank earlier praised the board's budget request and said educators stand ready to help with outreach to county commissioners.
Hoffman asked for transparency about how allotments are determined, suggesting the curriculum management team and the board should be part of conversations about staffing and course offerings. The board did not take an immediate formal vote on staffing or curriculum changes during the meeting.
