Belvidere Teachers Upset About Class Offerings

 

BELVIDERE (WIFR) – Fewer class options for students are causing greater criticism from teachers in the Belvidere School District.

German 1, Clothing and Home, and Interior Designs will not be offered in District High Schools for the 2015-2016 schedule. Family and consumer science classes will also not be available in the middle schools.

“When you eliminate classes like this with no input from teachers, that says our opinion really doesn’t matter for anything and our thoughts don’t matter,” says Mark Luthin with the Belvidere Education Association.

While teachers ask for more transparency and more involvement in the process, District Superintendent Michael Houselog says the decision was made solely based of student requests over the last four years and those classes had very little interest.

Houselog makes it clear that no teachers are being removed and this process is routinely done very year with no teacher involvement. He says that although there will not be an introductory German class, the district is thinking about introducing Mandarin next year.

Houselog says that only three or four students are in the junior and senior German classes, that program will be weeded out over the next three years. The BEA says there used to be a curriculum council that allowed teachers to voice their concerns about any changes, but there is currently no platform for teachers to do so.

Belvidere Teachers Upset About Class Offerings