The recent news that Oregon (WI) is considering the addition of foreign language courses to their elementary schools caused me to wonder what, if anything has happened in this important area within the MMSD? Pamela Cotant’s 5/22/1990 article contains this snippet:
Foreign languages: At the regular school board meeting Monday, the board voted unanimously in favor of seven recommendations made by an ad-hoc foreign language evaluation committee. The recommendations include hiring a half-time foreign language coordinator, consideration of an elementary school pilot program, and evaluation of offering a five-year sequence of the same languages in middle and high schools.
The 1990-1991 MMSD budget was $149.2M. (2007-2008 budget is $339M+).
Celeste Roberts adds some useful comments on the importance of elementary foreign language offerings here.