District to repurpose one world-language FTE to support Spanish and online German this year

The Stoughton Area School District board heard a staffing update and approved a short-term approach to meet world-language needs after a German teacher resigned.

School administration reported that a resignation created one available FTE in German. Rather than reduce offerings, the district plans to use that FTE to support students enrolled in Spanish and to provide in-person support for students taking online (asynchronous) German instruction supplied by an external partner. Administrators said that the online German courses are recorded and require a local adult to provide student support during the school day.

"We had a resignation in German," an administrator said, explaining the source of the available FTE. The administration emphasized the approach is temporary: a committee of board members and world-language educators will meet in the fall to recommend whether the district should continue the model, return to fully in-person staffing or adopt another configuration.

Board members asked practical questions about scheduling and logistics — whether one licensed staff member would cover multiple periods, and how asynchronous students would be supervised — and requested enrollment breakdowns (how many students switched to Spanish, how many enrolled in online German and how many opted out of world languages). Administrators said they have those numbers and will share finalized percentages when compiled for the committee.

No structural policy decisions were made at the meeting. The committee will review data and recommend a long-term staffing plan for world languages.