School Chiefs Weigh Language Mandate

By Dave Mock

Though they don't like the way it was done, the superintendents of the Levittown and Island Trees school districts say their systems won't be hurt much by the additional foreign-language requirements approved by the state Board of Regents.

Two weeks ago, the state Board of Regents approved an amendment that added three years of foreign language study and a new examination to high-schoolers' graduation requirements.

The New York Times reported that the additional requirement came after one Regent, J. Edward Meyer, went to tennis tournaments and was embarrassed that he did not speak another language, but that foreigners could.

"It's most likely the Board of Regents is going to change that," said Levittown Superintendent Herman Sirois."It's a motion that came from the floor; there was not any study."

Island Trees Superintendent Richard Segerdahl said that embarrassment at a tennis match isn't a proper reason for the Regents to add three years of a language,"without any discussion going on about the possibility of doing so...I don't think that's the way you bring forth educational reform."

For the Island Trees district, Segerdahl said, it would mean the need to hire two or three more foreign language teachers, plus changing the amount of foreign-language instruction from five periods per week to seven and a half periods.

Nevertheless, both Sirois and Segerdahl said that their districts would not fare as badly as would New York City, which would reportedly have triple the number of students who take foreign-language classes and have to add as many as 1,000 new teachers.

"It will not have as devastating an impact on students in the Levittown School District as it would in the city, in part because a much larger number of our students take foreign language and pass the Regents in foreign language. It's kind of the usual story where we're enough ahead of the pack."

Sirois noted that in the last 10 years, more Levittown students have been moved into Regents courses. For example, ninth-graders at both Division Avenue and MacArthur High Schools take only regents courses.

"Part of the problem in the Regents planning is their motivation," Sirois said."There are absolutely no resources to back them up. Things don't happen in one year. A child grows over many years. If we want our children to be successful, we have to be working right away in kindergarten, even pre-school, to prepare them for higher levels."

Because of the increasing Regents mandates, which include the hiking of standards in English and Language Arts, math, science, technology, and the arts, Island Trees officials are considering the possibility of a nine-period schedule at the high school for the 1998-99 school year.

Levittown, Island Trees, Wantagh, East Meadow and the Bellmore-Merrick districts are systems that have set goals of more access to Regents courses, and more Regents diploma graduates, over the last 10 to 15 years.

Sirois says Levittown added statistics into its second-grade programs in 1990, introducing a study area that many students wouldn't have until high school. He added that the district revamped its writing curriculum so students can do both expository and creative pieces by the time they get to high school.

According to Sirois, 60 percent of Levittown's students have been enrolled in Regents advanced science in recent years. Additions to the sixth- and seventh-grade science curriculums will allow them to take Regents Science in eighth grade, he added.

At Island Trees High School, all ninth-graders receive the Regents curriculum. Ninth- and 10th-grade students formerly classified as non-Regents are now Regents prep students, and receive seven and a half periods per week of instruction instead of the"normal" five periods per week. In 10th grade, all Island Trees students with the exception of IEP diploma-bound students receive the regents curriculum. Segerdahl added that for 11th grade, district officials are discussing using an extended instructional co-teaching model for the 1998-99 school year for ninth-grade social studies and 11th grade English.

The entire Math program is Regents-level, with weaker math students given the Course I curriculum over three to five semesters, depending upon their ability.

Segerdahl added that 81 percent of the high school's most recent graduating class took three or more credits of science, while 25 percent had five or more.