“Level 1 of Japanese, Chinese, and Russian will no longer be offered at Shawnee Mission South to allow for the additional levels to be offered at the satellite locations.” That one sentence, printed in a letter administered by Associate Principal Ryan Flurry, will change, if it already hasn’t, the lives and high school careers of many South students. It marks the end of the CIS programat South, a former signature program. The program was established at South in 2002, after beingshut down at the Mohawk Instructional Center. In studying Chinese, Japanese, Russian and Arabic, the students were immersed in cultures that were not their own, and came to be a sort of family.
At a meeting held on Nov. 14, 2011, the SMSD Board of Education decided that due to the lack of numbers in the language classes, South will no longer be host to all four of the CIS languages at the start of the 2013-2014 school year. Arabic will be the only CIS language remaining at South, keeping all levels of the language, due to the high enrollment compared to the other languages.
Instead, the languages will be spread throughout the district, offered at other high schools. Chinese will be taught at East, Japanese at Northwest, and Russian at North, with Arabic remaining at South.
“It’s a numbers thing,” Assistant Principal Ryan Flurry said. “We have to have a certain number of students enrolled in order to continue offering a class.”
Over the past few years, both interest and enrollment have dwindled in most of the languages, and CIS students are disappointed with the outcome.
“There are so many opportunities that could help me plan ahead,” freshman Cadence McGary said.
Her view is also shared by junior Gentry Toman.
“I am really upset,” Toman said. “Chinese has really changed my life.”
Toman has been a part of the Chinese program since her freshman year and plans on possibly moving to China and teaching English to students.
“I know that I won’t be affected directly by the change, but it’s sad that others won’t get an opportunity to learn what I learned,” Toman said.
If students who will be affected by the discontinuation of the program wish to continue to pursue a language, they can apply for transfers to the satellite location of their desired language or can attend the designated class period for the language at the other school.
While transferring schools is an option, Toman doesn’t find it to be realistic.
“I don’t think that many kids are going to transfer. There’s just not enough interest. Even if we had the chance to try and get more enrollment, there’s not much awareness about the program,” Toman said.
At the start of the 2012-2013 school year, level one of Chinese, Japanese, and Russian will not be offered at South. Levels 2-6 will continue to be offered until the start of the 2013-2014 school year.
“What can the kids gain or lose from this?” Principal Joe Gilhaus said. “That’s argumentative. If you really want to take the language/class, you can. You still have all the options and opportunities.”
By Shelby Johnson
