These students rallied to save Chinese classes at their schools. District makes decision
The Peninsula School District recently informed its students that it will end the Chinese language program due to low enrollment in the classes.
“It really came as a shock, we hit the ground running trying to raise awareness,” Gig Harbor High School junior Anna Daetwiler said.
Students registered for their classes for the 2022-2023 school year in March.
“Once we know student interests based on registration numbers, decisions are made on which courses to offer, and which ones will not be offered in that particular year,” Assistant Superintendent Daniel Gregory said.
In response, students took action creating a completely student-run campaign and making in-person appearances to try and save the program. A group of students handed out over 140 almond cookies in support of the program last month in downtown Gig Harbor and in front of the middle schools, in hopes of getting younger students to sign-up for the classes to try to ensure the program’s future. Attached to the almond cookies were mini fliers that provided QR codes to an online petition, to the district superintendent’s contact information, and to the class website.
“My grandma and I made the cookies, a freshman created our website and another created our petition. One sophomore has been running social media for us and a senior offered to transport us to hand out fliers at the middle schools. This didn’t involve our teacher or any adults,” Daetwiler said.
“We worked really hard to get those numbers up. We were all feeling stressed just trying to make sure we promoted the program in a respectful way,” Daetwiler said.
The agreement between the district and students was that, if enrollment increased enough, then district leaders would reconsider keeping the program in the high schools.
“Secondary principals consider whether or not to run the courses with low registration numbers and consult with district administrators throughout that process. How the courses fit into the overall master schedule and possible student pathways are considered,” Gregory said.
The students who campaigned hoped to see sign-ups from incoming freshmen for Chinese Level I. The Peninsula School District already cut the program at Kopachuck Middle School earlier this year. The high school students had been actively trying to prevent this from happening to the high school language program.
Despite student efforts, the program will still see cuts. It needed to reach 18 sign-ups for Chinese I for the district to reconsider cutting the program. Even after students campaigned, there were 13 sign-ups.
Next school year upper-level Chinese classes will be offered at both high schools for those students who have already started taking Chinese at both Gig Harbor High School and Peninsula High School.
Chinese I won’t be offered during the 2022-2023 school year.
“Chinese I will remain in the course guide and on the registration form,” district spokesperson Aimee Gordon said via email. “We hope student interest will increase in the coming years.”
Gordon said district leaders hope to have enough interest to offer Chinese I again in the 2023-2024 school year.
“Our teacher, Ms. Steele has been with the program for a very long time, building it from the ground up. She provides an incredible amount of resources, instruction, one-on-one type guidance and projects where we can have fun learning,” Daetwiler said.
Chinese teacher Heidi Steele set up opportunities for Gig Harbor High School students to be in contact with students from Taiwan as part of a virtual exchange. According to Daetwiler, it’s been extremely beneficial talking to native speakers.
“This campaign was not only working to promote the Chinese language program, but representing something much bigger. Youth will always have the power to create change and make a difference,” Daetwiler said.
“We always try to be responsive to our students. Over the past few weeks we did hear from a few students who wanted to change their class selections next year to include Chinese I. So, we allowed time for them to come forward, but unfortunately, the number of students who changed their course registration was not enough to warrant reinstating Chinese I,” Gregory said.
Corrections: This story has been updated to correct the name of Assistant Superintendent Daniel Gregory and to clarify that, while Chinese I will not be offered next year, it will be listed in the course guide and registration form as a possibility for future school years.
This story was originally published May 10, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
