Five avid French students meticulously analyze and voice their opinions about pieces of French literature during the French 5 Advanced Placement literature class that meets every Wednesday for two hours after school. They interpret eloquent poems, novels, and plays that delineate themes of love and the fragility of life and will cover five centuries of literature throughout the course of the year.

The feud between the administrations and Paly French 5AP students has finally been settled. After much compromise and discourse, five avid students have been granted the opportunity to pursue their passions for foreign language and literature.

Despite many protests and disputes, last year’s principal, Scott Laurence, could not approve the 5AP class because only 18 students signed up for the class, failing to meet the requirement of 20 students to fund and 24 students to officially authorize the class. Although the class was relatively popular, the site council feared that funding the French 5AP classroom would lead to funding too many small classes. The Site Council was not able to fund it but hoped that Lawrence could arrange French 5AP to be approved through funds from Partner In Education.

“Site Council declined the proposal yet strongly urged the principal to find funds for
French 5AP within his district allocation or PIE funds,” Site Council member Anne Avis said. “We were worried about setting a precedent for future under-enrolled courses expecting Site Council funds. We expected the principal to work with the World Languages Department to find a solution to offering French 5AP.”

According to French 5AP student Jillian Liu, complications arose due to the change in the administration. Although Laurence had voted to fund the class with the 5AP fund, new principal Jackie McEvoy had dismissed this idea. Afterwards, the students began to campaign for further funding and approached Superintendent Kevin Skelly, who agreed to fund an independent study class of five or more people. Fortunately for the hopeful students, McEvoy also approved of this plan.

The failure to create a French 5AP class set off a huge debate among parents, which is evident on the Palo Alto Weekly Town Square website. Parents debated whether this situation indicated any inequity between Paly and Gunn, which maintains a French 5AP class despite only having less students than Paly’s fledgling 5AP class.

However, PIE had already allocated its funds prior to this proposal, including to Gunn’s French 5AP class, consisting of 14 students, according to Spanish teacher Kevin Duffy.

One of the parents of the eighteen students even protested to the superintendent, who granted students an independent study class for those who wanted to continue learning French. The school board is currently funding these two hour after school independent study sessions.

This problem is not new to the Paly campus. Currently, the Spanish 6 class was not approved by the principal and meets every Wednesday lunch, according to Spanish teacher Kevin Duffy.

“My understanding is that every year this problem comes up and Paly has to make difficult decisions about offering a course that doesn’t attract enough students according to the district staffing policies,” Avis said. “The district and School Board set staffing policies, in other words, how many students each class needs to allocate funds for a teacher.”

Only five students have stayed to commence their fifth year of French at Paly. The rest of the 11 students had rearranged their schedules after learning that they would not be able to take the class before learning about the new plan made during the summer and before the announcement about this independent study class, according to French teacher Carla Guerard.

Many of these students have enrolled in these classes for their personal enjoyment. Some students seek careers that require mastery in and credits for foreign languages, such as in areas of international relations and foreign policy. However, not many colleges or online courses offer a strict French 5AP literature curriculum and would hinder students from getting proper credit for the class and preparation for the test in May. Other schools, such as Gunn and Castilleja, classes exclusively to their students.

In order to fulfill her love for learning and prepare for a future career as a diplomat, Jillian Liu has decided to take the after school French 5AP class. She strongly believes that knowledge of foreign languages can help people and even nations come to better agreements.

“I aspire to work overseas as a diplomat,” Liu said. “In which case, language is essential, especially because it’s necessary for communication and only with communication will the countries understand and empathize with each other.”

The current French 5AP class follows the regular 5AP curriculum, which includes independent reading and analyzing French literature, namely novels, poems, and grammar. However, there are some difficulties in maintaining an after school separate class and teaching the entire curriculum to prepare students for the AP test. French 5AP teacher Carla Guerard has to assign many independent assignments to her students to sufficiently cover the entire curriculum, ranging from 16th century literature to modern literature.

“You do a whole weeks worth for two hours after school,” French teacher Carla Guerard said. “The students have a lot of independent reading.”

Despite some extra work involved due to the advanced nature of the class and the short class hours, many students feel ecstatic about their opportunity to further their study of French at Paly and wish to explore new dimensions of French literature.
“It’s a lot of reading, but that was expected,” Liu said. “I love what we have now. We’re working on poetry right now, which is kind of annoying, but I’m pretty sure we are all getting the hang of it. I’m excited for the plays and novels.”

Currently without any other alternative, Guerard hopes to continue the three year tradition of maintaining a French 5AP class. The class had been nonexistent fifteen years before 2004.

“I always hope [for French 5AP to be approved as a course],” Guerard said. “It all depends on the principal and the budget [for each year].”