VERNON TOWNSHIP — The World Languages Committee at Crawford Central School District is expecting to receive a green light tonight to move forward with a new foreign languages and cultures program that would begin with all elementary school students in the fall of 2009.

The committee, which was formed several years ago, received an informal nod of approval by the school board one week ago.

Assistant Superintendent Charles Heller III has been working closely with the World Language Committee since it was formed, and said he has seen interest in the program grow significantly since 2006.

“There are now 30 members, made up of administration, faculty and community members,” Heller said. “And since the committee was formed, there have been visitations to other schools, conferences and guest speakers that have contributions to the program.”

The committee is proposing a co-teaching model where a World Language teacher would visit elementary school classrooms once each week for 40 minutes. Students’ regularly assigned teacher would assist in the lesson and then reinforce the program of study into other core areas of the curriculum, Heller said.

All of the members of the school board supported the idea behind the program, but there was a bit of apprehension due to its $304,000 price tag. The funds would be used to employ new faculty that would be the equivalent of 3.5 new teachers in German, Spanish and French. Several laptop computers would also be purchased specifically for mobile classrooms.

Heller said they “figured on the high end,” but that they did not include the cost of materials or professional development.

Suzanne Good, the director of elementary curriculum, said the cost for materials should be a nominal investment due to the availability of Internet resources. The district would take advantage of free sources such as downloadable video streaming.

Heller said the goal of the committee was to not just ask the board to approve funding, but to make a commitment to the project for the future.

“The word ‘sustainability’ really bothers me,” said Jan VanTuil. “The worst thing we could do is take this program on for one year and then drop it. The big thing here is that when we make the decision to approve it, it is something that has to be a long-term budget item.”

School board President Ross Prather also had reservations.

“I know I’m going against the grain here, but I’ve thought about my main goals for the district,” Prather said. “I am very excited about this, but I’m not ready to do it this year. I really want to see this go forward, but right now we’ve got too many coins in our pocket.”

VanTuil also expressed her concern about the economy and the unknowns with regards to the amount of future state subsidies the school would receive. She said saying “no” to it this year did not mean that she was saying “no” to it in the future.

“The last thing I want the committee to do is to put even more work into it and then have us put the brakes on it,” VanTuil said.

After an unofficial an non-binding roll count vote, board Vice President Asuman Baskan and members Christine Lazusky, Frank Schreck and Carol E. Jones said they would support the resolution during today’s regular business meeting.