photo by: Rochelle Valverde

Students in the Lawrence school district's Latin program provide public comment to the school board against the elimination of the program at the board's meeting on May 9, 2022.

The Lawrence school board heard about 25 minutes of public comment from those advocating that the district reverse the decision to cut the high school Latin program, with some arguing that it was taking away an important opportunity for public school students.

As the Journal-World reported, building and district administrators recently informed the district’s only Latin teacher, Zachary Puckett — who teaches six classes across the two high schools — that they would be cutting the Latin program.

About a dozen current and former Latin students, not all of whom spoke, attended the board’s meeting on Monday, as well as a few teachers and parents. University of Kansas Professor Tara Welch, chair of KU’s Classics Department, said Lawrence’s program was the state’s “flagship” public Latin program.

“Lawrence’s programs in Latin are the flagship programs in Kansas, and one of the few remaining public Latin school programs in Kansas,” Welch said, noting that the program’s students score very well on the national Latin exam and Puckett had been nominated for a national Classics award. “…Cutting the program abruptly does a great disservice to students and we hope that some other solution can be found so that these students — students such as we heard today — can have the opportunity to continue studying this amazing language.”

Laura Phillips said she took Latin for four years while attending Lawrence High School and is about to earn her master’s degree in Classical Languages at KU. Phillips, who said Latin helped her in all her studies, said Latin is sometimes thought of as a field of study only accessible to privileged students, and if the school board allows the district to cut the program they were contributing to that limited access.

“If you go through with this cut, the only students in Lawrence that will have access to Latin is private schools,” Phillips said. “I understand that budget cuts are in order, but I hope that as you plan for the future of our schools, you ensure our students have access to a full, well-rounded education by preserving invaluable courses such as Latin.”

Phillips provided the board with a letter written by former Lawrence public school Latin students and graduate students in the KU Classics Department, as well as signatures and comments from 160 community members opposed to the elimination of the Latin program.

Almost all of the students and teachers who spoke also said that Latin provides a foundation to understand English grammar and other romance languages, as well as legal, medical and other terminology. Several said Latin helped them with critical thinking skills and noted that the study of Latin has been found to increase standardized test scores. Puckett’s current and former students also spoke to his classroom environment, which they described as welcoming and supportive.

A parent, Laura Mielke, told the board that she acknowledged budget cuts were necessary due to declining enrollment and associated loss of state funding. However, she said it now seemed clear that the decision to not pursue school consolidations would result in the diminishment of academic offerings, perhaps contributing to additional enrollment declines.

“It is hard not to fear an ironic outcome: that in response to the funding crisis, we will chip away at the excellence of our district and as a result suffer further declines in enrollment, necessitating further cuts,” Mielke said.

The cut of the Latin program is part of more than $6 million in budget cuts recently approved by the school board for next year. However, the Latin program was not one of the programs singled out by the board in its budget reduction package. Instead, it was a decision made by district and building administrators as they implement unspecified staff reductions approved by the board.

District spokesperson Julie Boyle provided the Journal-World more details from the district’s Human Resources department about the budget decisions being made at the administrative level. Boyle confirmed that district and building administrators can identify programs for elimination that were not specified in the budget reduction package without further approval of the board, though any related personnel changes would go to the board for approval in the personnel reports included in the board’s consent agenda.

“Staffing the schools to meet student needs is the responsibility of the building and district administration,” the response states. “Keeping student needs at the forefront and with a priority to protect existing staff when possible, Human Resources staff has worked with building principals to evaluate staff retirements, resignations, current vacancies, and the licensure and certifications of existing staff.”

Though one of the unspecified cuts was 10 high school staff members, dozens of teachers typically resign each year, making it possible for that reduction to be handled with attrition if desired. With that in mind, the Journal-World asked the district what factors are district and building administration using if choosing to instead eliminate a program. The district’s response states that district and building administration look at student enrollment numbers, sections needed, class size, and teacher certification and licensure.

The board only briefly spoke to the Latin program cut on Monday. Following the public comments, board member Carole Cadue-Blackwood said she wanted to acknowledge everyone and thank them for their input regarding the Latin program and Board Vice President Shannon Kimball spoke more generally about inadequate state funding and urged the public to also advocate on that issue.

The Journal-World also recently spoke to Kimball specifically about the cut to the Latin program and the decision-making process about some of the less specific cuts. Kimball said she was comfortable with those decisions lying in the hands of administrators instead of having those particulars come back before the board.

“I am comfortable with that,” Kimball said. “I have confidence that our building administrators in particular have a deep understanding of our students and their needs and that they are making decisions in the best interest of our students based on their knowledge and their experience.”

However, she also recognized the impact of the budget cuts, and that no matter what decisions administrators make, someone will be affected. She said that was hard for students, teachers and for her as a board member.

“We knew going into this that we weren’t talking about (cutting) extras, we were talking about things that we’ve been doing for a long time that are important to people,” Kimball said. “So anytime you make changes like that, there’s going to be loss for somebody. That’s really hard and I want to acknowledge that, that no matter what decision that the building and district administration makes about which programs, which positions, it’s going to impact somebody.”

In other business, the board received an update regarding the implementation of a “redesign” of the learning environment of four of the district’s schools: Broken Arrow Elementary, Deerfield Elementary, Hillcrest Elementary, and Free State High School.