World Language Update

Translations and accessibility options are available at the top of the page.

• Amharic: የትርጉም አማራጮችን ለማግኘት እዚህ ጠቅ ያድርጉ

• Arabic: الرجاء الضغط هنا للترجمة العربية.

• Simplified Chinese: 点击这里查看中文翻译.
  
• Traditional Chinese: 點擊這裡查看中文翻譯.
• French: Cliquez ici pour accéder aux options de traduction
• Haitian Creole: Klike la a pou tradiksyon kreyòl ayisyen an.
• Hebrew: אנא לחץ כאן לצפייה במסמך בעברית.
• Japanese: ここをクリックして日本語の翻訳にアクセスしてください.
• Korean: 한국어 번역을 보시려면 여기를 클릭하십시오.
• Portuguese: Clique aqui para a tradução em português.
• Russian: Нажмите здесь, чтобы получить доступ к русскому переводу.
• Spanish: Haga clic aquí para acceder a la traducción al español.
• Vietnamese: Nhấn vào đây để truy cập bản dịch tiếng Việt.

PSB has faced increasing difficulty finding highly qualified World Language teachers for the last two years.

For this upcoming school year (SY2023-24), due to both resignations and leaves of absence, the number of World Language positions that PSB needed to hire for was higher than usual. We also have not received enough applications from prospective candidates to fill our open positions.

1. District staff have contacted multiple local colleges and universities. There is a decline in the number of programs offering an Elementary World Language license, likely contributing to the lack of qualified candidates.
   
   
2. District staff have contacted the Massachusetts Foreign Language Association to find qualified applicants.
   
   
3. District staff have contacted their extensive network of contacts to reach prospective candidates.
   
   
4. School and district administrators met to discuss the best options for providing meaningful, robust world language programming across all K-8 schools.
   
   
5. Postings for French teachers remain active, and principals are working hard to secure viable candidates.
   
   
6. PSB took down some current job postings for Spanish teachers last week. The district will repost them next week to reflect current staffing needs more accurately.

As such, we are reallocating existing PSB staff to ensure that:

• All schools can run their middle school world language program.
  
  
• We have enough additional partial FTE in each school's K-5 language. If we can not secure enough middle school teachers, middle school students can continue with their K-5 language in 6th grade.
  
  
• Any additional FTE will provide as much language continuity and exposure as possible, beginning in grade 5 and working backward to kindergarten. Given our staffing crisis, this structure allows us to protect existing world language positions while also offering as much world language as feasible.

In the meantime, we will continue interviews with ongoing applications to provide more complete Elementary World Language offerings as the year progresses.

During the 2022-2023 school year, PSB undertook a World Language Program Review. When PSB first funded the Elementary World Language Program in 2007, there was an explicit plan to review and refine the program’s efficacy after the first two years according to student learning outcomes - a process the district has yet to complete. As such, we will look closely at last year’s program review findings over the 2023-24 school year and publicly share the results and proposed next steps.

You may have heard that some Elementary World Language teachers have expressed concerns about their schedules and if they are equitably compared to other staff. All Brookline Unit A members, which includes world language teachers, are guaranteed a daily paid 30-minute duty-free lunch and a daily paid 40-minute unassigned or “preparation” period.

A comparison of world language teacher schedules does reflect some inconsistency between teachers within the department in that some teachers have significantly more “unassigned” time than is contractually established as the baseline. This inconsistency extends across all PSB schools and departments. The district will work to resolve this issue and ensure that our staffing is responsible for our budget constraints and complies with our collective bargaining agreements.

• Share widely with your networks that Brookline actively seeks licensed Elementary World Language teachers for our K-8 schools, especially in French and Spanish. Interested applicants can apply at www.brookline.k12.ma.us/jobs.
  
  
• Engage in upcoming dialogue about our Elementary World Language and Middle School Program Reviews.

Our district leaders are committed to ensuring Brookline teachers have as much job stability as possible while also being responsible stewards of our limited budget resources.

We will continue working diligently on their schedules this summer, and more information will be forthcoming about specific impacts at your student’s schools in the coming weeks.