BERNE — The Berne-Knox-Westerlo School Board reconsidered foreign language studies for its elementary students last week, after the chair of the After-School Foreign Language program told the board that the program has outgrown itself.

The program, sponsored by the PTA, offers Spanish, French, German, and Latin lessons to elementary school students on Wednesdays from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.
"We are not trying to eliminate the after-school program, but it would be best if it was in conjunction with an in-school elementary foreign language program," said Jean Forti, chair of the PTA program. Forti said future after-school programs may include Arabic, Russian, and sign language.
"Frankly, it is getting to the point where we cannot handle these large numbers of students," said Forti, who reported that 80 kindergarten through fifth-grade children are enrolled in the program from January through March.

Numbers in the program, Forti said, are increasing, and some students’ schedules can’t accommodate the program.

Board members were receptive as Forti and PTA President Michelle Tusco recommended their program work in conjunction with the school’s classes. Both were concerned about voter approval for the district’s budget and raising public awareness.
"We did petitions a few years ago," said Forti.

Superintendent Steven Schrade said further research needed to be conducted regarding the cost of offering the classes, where it would fall in the school day, and the language that would be chosen.
"I think we support it," said school board President Joan Adriance, later saying foreign language study allows students to "adapt more readily."

Board member John Harlow has been a strong proponent of starting elementary students on Chinese in order for American students to stay competitive on the international stage.
"If you look at countries, the greatest economical force is China," said Harlow.
"I would rather teach the economics," school board Vice President Edward Ackroyd said last week, "because in any language, two and two is four."
Prior to its meeting last week, Harlow submitted "Moving Schools Out of the 20th Century," a Times magazine article, for board discussion.
"Kids spend much of the day as their great-grandparents once did: sitting in rows, listening to teachers lecture, scribbling notes by hand, reading from textbooks that are out of date by the time they are printed," says the December article in Time by Claudia Wallis and Sonja Steptoe.
"Kids are global citizens now, even in small-town America," Wallis and Steptoe say.
"Today’s economy demands not only a high-level competence in the traditional academic disciplines but also what might be called 21st Century skills," Wallis and Steptoe say, outlining these skills as: knowing more about the world, thinking outside the box, becoming smarter about new sources of information, and developing good people skills.

The article cites the John Stanford International School, a Seattle, Washington public elementary school, where students take classes in Japanese or Spanish; have social-studies units on Asia, Africa, Australia, Mexico, and South America; and video-conference, exchange messages, and join in charity projects with sister schools in Japan, Africa, and Mexico.
"I’m not against it," Ackroyd told The Enterprise this week, adding that he thinks the board needs to do more research than discussing one article.
"What are you going to give up"" he asked, adding he thinks the district has a full curriculum.
"I think you’ll find more community support now than you did four years ago," Schrade said to Forti last week.

Christine Margiotta, the district’s communications specialist, said she will be writing an article for the March school newsletter on PTA after-school programs.

Other business

In other business, the school board:

— Appointed West and Company to a five-year contract as its independent auditor.
David Weiser, who began as business administrator in December, recommended the district continue with West and Company, based in Gloversville, adding that the contract should be "under careful watch."

Prior to his recommendation, Weiser said he had looked at the firm’s five-year plan and its hourly rate, had checked references, examined its response to the district’s proposals, and looked at its experience with school districts.
"There have been challenges in the past in timeliness," Weiser said, adding, "I believe they’ve reconciled that situation."

Weiser attributed past problems to a key employee’s sickness.
"Whoever we choose, it is my recommendation that we send them a confirmation letter, restating our expectations," said Weiser.

Board member Maureen Sikule was concerned about deficiencies in West and Company’s 2006 audit of the district.

Schrade said this week the district has used West and Company since 2002;

– Approved the amendments to the sliding-scale tax exemptions for elderly and disabled people on limited incomes for a four-year period ending at the close of the 2009 fiscal year. The sliding scale, effective July 1, 2007, offers a 50-percent reduction for households with an annual income of $27,000 or less, and a 5-percent reduction for households with an income of $34,500 or more but less than $35,400; and
— Approved tape-recording school board meetings. The board will continue using typed minutes for record-keeping, and use tapes as a "back-up" and erase or discard them after clerk Noreen Shunney types a written record of the minutes.