Webutuck weighs faculty, staff Spanish training program

AMENIA — Members of the Webutuck Board of Education discussed a Spanish language training program for staff and faculty during a Board of Education meeting on Monday, Oct. 28.

“So we are looking at a Spanish introductory Spanish class for teachers and faculty,” said Paul Wladarczyk, a member of the Webutuck’s Board of Education. “Not just teachers; faculty, staff, clerical — whomever — after school. Two sessions a week, two different times a week to make sure that we get to both our secondary and elementary staff.”

After the second quarter, starting in January, the lessons will begin for faculty and staff to learn Spanish after school. Lessons are planned for throughout the week, in order to reach as many faculty members as possible.

“We have our Spanish teacher, at least one right now, going to be teaching introductory Spanish to our staff and faculty, so that the communication is a little bit better,” Wladarczyk said. “So we are excited about that.”

A member of the board, and parent to a Webutuck student, shared her concerns about how her son in Webutuck’s elementary school has struggled to create deep connections with other children who do not speak the same language.

“I remember Brody in pre-k, just like, ‘Mom, can I learn Spanish? Like I want to talk to my friends?,’” said Lauren Marquis, “So teaching them at a young age helps them, and then there’s so many friends he could speak to, and it’s still a constant barrier for him … They get by when they get on the playground, but I’d think it’d be amazing.”

Webutuck has previously tried to implement foreign languages for younger school students, with Mandarin Chinese. This program did not reach its fullest potential and ended after only a few years, Wladarczyk said.

“One of the biggest problems we have is finding a foreign language teacher, but that shouldn’t exclude us from trying to instill it again,” said Wladarczyk. “If we wanted to build a program, which is really something we should be looking at, I would want to look at another Spanish teacher, build it into a special down at the elementary level.”

The Board of Education has taken their district’s culture into consideration, and is looking into the possibility of creating more programs for Spanish language, especially for younger children.

“It is so important for us, again, with our population, that’s a great idea to do, not only to communicate with each other, but the future,” Wladarczyk said, “So let’s put that on the agenda.”