In the Sunday, Septermber 9, 2007 Times Herald-Record on page 15B there was a noteworthy item under "Academics".

An NFA student was given a scholarship to study Japanese in Japan for the summer. Congratulations to Chelsea Sweitzer and her teacher Mrs. Seiko Rhone.

In addition to having experienced life abroad, and having used Japanese day-to-day among native speakers, Ms Sweitzer is sure to have some good stories to entertain college admissions personnel in the year ahead.

Hopefully the Board of Education will take note of this accomplishment and will see to it that Mrs. Rhone is employed in the teaching of Japanese instead of more general teaching duties. They would do well to consider the wisdom of their decision a couple of months ago to cut staff for the teaching of Japanese in the district. In May of 2007 at the recommendation of the Superintendent, 7 of the 9 current members of the Board of Education voted "to Abolish a (1.0 FTE) Japanese Teaching Position and Create a (0.6 FTE) Japanese Teaching Position."

If studying Japanese provides students in the district with unique opportunities to learn, qualifies them for generous scholarships, makes them more desireable college applicants, and allows them them to experience something of a foreign culture, why does the Board of Education and District Administration not encourage this?