The reasoning behind the decision

Along with causing stress for students, course registration can pressure school officials; Parkway Administration must annually reevaluate classes offered to students based on their past enrollment numbers. 

Early December of the 2022-23 school year, the administration elected to stop offering Latin A and B at the middle school level and removed German A, B and I from registration options. However, rising freshmen interested in the course can still take Latin 1. 

“We’ve been monitoring the enrollment in world languages for a long time, and we continue every year to evaluate which classes we are going to offer. In the last five years, we’ve seen a decline by 33% in the number of students earning credit in Latin and a decline in German of 63%,” Parkway’s Assistant Superintendent of Teaching, Learning and Accountability Kevin Beckner said. “When you’re watching these numbers consistently decline year after year, it reaches the point where you have to say this isn’t sustainable.” 

Some problems caused by small class sizes are already apparent. Due to low enrollment numbers, AP Latin 4 and 5 were combined into one course. Furthermore, Parkway Central’s Latin teacher Matt Pikaard travels to teach middle and high school students. Although the school will no longer offer Latin A and introductory German classes, it will allow current students to finish their tracks in their languages.

“One thing we are committed to is supporting any student who’s already in that language in going as far in that language as they want. We are committed to never allowing a situation where a student at level two wants to go to level three and cannot. We never want to say to that student, ‘You can’t.’ We will find a way for that [class] to happen,” Beckner said. “It might not be an in-person class, [and] we may have to combine a four and five-level class or offer them virtually through an outside provider like a community college. We never want a student stuck in a position where they can’t get the credit they anticipated getting. We can never guarantee anything, but we value being flexible enough to meet the needs of students who aspire to accomplish something.”

To Latin teacher Tom Herpel, the decision came as a surprise. He was aware of the conversations regarding German but viewed the Latin program as strong and doubted it would be up for debate. 

“When I first heard about it, I thought it was a joke. Honestly, Latin has been a mainstay at Parkway for so long that to hear that the middle school programs would no longer be an option was incredibly shocking. I went through a range of emotions: confusion, anger, [and feeling] disrespected for what Latin teachers do daily,” Herpel said. “I tried to reason out why this decision would happen and understand that the data collected over three to five years showed a downward trend, but one of the biggest problems I had with [the decision] is how I found out. [Other Latin teachers and I] weren’t told by our superiors that the decision was even on the docket. Knowing that would have allowed us to rectify the situation, prepare or problem-solve. I feel completely blindsided.”

The decision to remove Latin A and B will affect West Middle and Central Middle Schools: the only Parkway middle schools offering the course. Parkway South, Southwest and Northeast Middle school eliminated their programs earlier due to low enrollment.

“[This decision] eliminates some substantial challenges we faced over the last several years. If we think about staffing these small programs, it often means traveling teachers between school buildings and blending virtual and in-person learning some days,” Beckner said. “Anytime you wind down a program, there are going to be people who are disappointed. That is understandable. We certainly respect those people and want to honor that this is important for them. Often, they are emotionally connected and have given semesters of their life to studying a language, so we certainly are sensitive to that.”