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Parents, students urge Lakeside board to restore Mandarin instruction at middle schools
Summary
A parent and a student told the board the district no longer has a pipeline for Mandarin student teachers after the Confucius Institute contract ended and that there is currently no job posting or contract to fill the role. They asked the board to act quickly to secure Mandarin instructors for both middle schools.
Parent Crystal Grobner told the board she moved into the Lakeside district for multilingual programs and said the district currently lacks a Mandarin teacher pipeline following the end of a Confucius Institute contract.
"Without the Confucius Institute contract, we no longer have a pipeline for the Mandarin speaking student teachers, and there is currently no job posting or contract in place," Grobner said. She asked trustees to "please act quickly to ensure Mandarin enrichment continues at both middle schools." (20:19)
A student speaker supported the request, saying a 0-period Mandarin class has been without instruction for three weeks: "I haven't been able to learn Mandarin for 3 weeks now. Our 0 period class is ready to learn Mandarin." The student described multilingual study as a pathway to future opportunities and urged the board not to "give up" on the program.
No formal staffing motion or timeline was recorded in the transcript excerpt. Board members acknowledged the public comment and indicated staff follow-up and hiring processes would be necessary to address the gap.
