Lack of district communication sparks controversy in community

BY JASMINE RIHAL STAFF EDITORIAL: THE VOICE OF THE EPIC

On March 20, FUHSD announced that all level four Honors language courses will be eliminated by the 2024-25 school year due to declining enrollment. Each school’s World Language department will also be downsized to offer only three languages. As the smallest language program on campus, Lynbrook’s Japanese program will be phased out by 2028, leaving only the French, Spanish and Chinese programs.

The announcement raised concerns in the community that this proposal was made due to budget issues, but the district has stated that declining enrollment was the core reasoning for their decision. For the past few years, FUHSD has experienced high rates of declining enrollment, mainly due to the Bay Area housing crisis and COVID-19 pandemic, causing families to move to more affordable areas.

“The issue is not just a ‘lack of signups’ for World Languages — we see growth in requests for Japanese next year, and our other languages do a fantastic job with student retention,” French teacher Elizabeth Louie said. “Overall declining enrollment means that all departments are going to see fewer students, but because World Languages is smaller, these declines had bigger impact on us.” story continues on pg. 4 || news story continues on pg. 5 || opinion

District leaders failed to include teachers and students in the decision making process regarding their preliminary plans to remove all level four World Language classes and the smallest language program at each school over the course of the five years. Though this decision is not yet finalized and will not affect any students graduating prior to 2027, it has upset World Language teachers and students as FUHSD made this decision behind closed doors, with little to no input from teachers, students or parents. Accounting for the widespread impacts of the policy on those who have been excluded from the decision making process, FUHSD should consistently incorporate more community involvement when finalizing future decisions and reevaluate this controversial and harmful action plan.

The removal of classes will eventually lead to fewer choices for students to fulfill their language requirements for graduation and college. As language classes currently have one of the highest ratios of students per class, the removal of all honors classes is likely to increase the number of students in remaining classes, adding pressure on teachers to accommodate the needs of all their students.

Letter from the Editors

Dear Vikings, Welcome to Issue 6!

We would like to congratulate our new leadership and staff for the 2023-24 year! We appreciate the initiative and hard work of all applicants and are confident in our selected candidates’ abilities to advance our publication to new heights next year.

In News, travel to the sustainable markets in Half-Moon Bay with FUHSD culinary classes and members of the Lynbrook Conservation Action Association; in Opinion, delve into the psychology behind fanatic parasocial relationships; in Features, meet Samir as he blends art and technology; in In-Depth, learn about San Francisco’s reparation initiatives and uncover the effects of childhood favorite shows such as “SpongeBob SquarePants”; in Sports, look beyond catchy slogans to discover the role of pre and post-workout supplements. Make sure to visit our website for exclusive content, including an article uncovering the controversial cancellation of a boat venue for the class of 2023’s senior prom and videos exploring Virtual Enterprise students’ businesses, senioritis and Holi traditions.

For Issue 7, get excited for our second centerspread of the year! Our staff will be diving into the roots and applications of language, from understanding the generational loss of native tongues to the meanings that can be lost in translation of international literature.

As always, we encourage you to submit Letters to the Editors, opinions on any published stories this year, and Guest Columns, articles focusing on your individual perspective, at lhsepic.com/submissions. Selected submissions will be published on our paper and/or website.

Stay tuned,

Elizabeth Cheng & Amy Liu Editors-in-Chief