Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Curriculum French topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
West student and parent press board to reinstate AP French 5 and improve district communication
Summary
A Waukesha West sophomore and her mother asked the board to reconsider discontinuing AP French 5 and criticized how students and teachers were notified; a community member raised broader concerns about communication at West High.
A Waukesha West student and her mother urged the School District of Waukesha Board of Education on March 12 to reinstate the district’s AP French 5 offering for current students and to improve how the district notifies teachers and families when courses are discontinued.
“The school district is stopping my education by only providing half of a curriculum,” Kyra McCarthy, a sophomore at Waukesha West, told the board during the public comment period. McCarthy said her French 4 class uses a rolling curriculum that covers the first three units of the AP 5 syllabus this year and that students planned to complete the remaining units next year to prepare for the AP exam and preserve weighted GPA opportunities.
McCarthy described three options she said were offered after the program change: quit French, enroll in an online option (eAchieve) that she said is not equivalent to in-person instruction, or travel to UW–Milwaukee for in-person coursework. She said those alternatives were not viable for her and other students who had already invested four years in district language study.
Jennifer McCarthy, Kyra’s mother, told trustees that district staff notified her daughter of the change during an academic class with little advance warning and that the students had "24 hours to make a decision." Jennifer McCarthy said the classroom teacher learned of the cancellation from parents and students and had not been informed in advance. "That teacher was not even given the dignity of knowing that her class was canceled before the students," she said, calling the communication process "unprofessional." She said two emails Kyra sent to Miss Garcia at the district office received no reply.
A third public commenter, Paul Rees, voiced broader frustration with communication and leadership at Waukesha West and asked the administration to address the issues. Rees referenced prior years of involvement with the district and said he had observed sudden changes in program offerings and inconsistent communication.
Board members did not take action on the French program during the meeting. Trustees noted the concern and a board member asked staff to follow up; no formal motion to reinstate the course was recorded in the public session.
