We are parents, students, alumni, and neighbors asking Bellingham Public Schools to reverse its decision to cut first-year German at Bellingham High School for the 2026–27 school year and to give students and families a fair chance to save it.

This past school year 2025-2026, German 1 just had its best enrollment in four years: 63 students, more than any year since 2022. Yet incoming families were never told the course was at risk. The 17 students who requested German this fall had no warning, no chance to recruit classmates, and no opportunity to appeal before the decision to cut the first-year course was made. In fact, students and families have not been notified that the choice they made for their language requirement back in Spring will likely not be a choice at all.

Two changes worked against enrollment in German 1 being on par with past years. The district reduced the school schedule, shrinking from an eight to a seven-period schedule. This means that, although the number of graduation requirements have remained the same, students take fewer courses per year. In addition, new registration forms put world language, a graduation requirement, on the same line as electives, dropping the first- and second-choice language selection that used to signal its importance and prompt families to plan ahead in terms of the need to take a language prior to graduation. This likely led many students and families to not understand that taking a language is a requirement for graduation. 

Cutting German would also leave Bellingham High School with only two world-language options, while Sehome and Squalicum each still offer three — a disparity the district's own "equitable access" commitment should prevent, not create. Additionally, losing German 1 does not just cancel one class; it closes the only entry point into German 2, German 3, and AP German, and puts at risk a German exchange that has connected Bellingham students with host families in Germany since 1987. This creates a situation in which potentially life-changing experiences abroad for Bellingham High students are erased from their educational path. 

Schedules for 2026–27 are not finalized yet. There is still time for the district to reverse this if enough of us speak up now.

We are asking the district to:

1. Run German 1 in 2026–27, this way ensuring that German 2, 3, and AP are also preserved in future years.
2. Restore registration materials that clearly flag world language as a graduation requirement and require every student to select a first- and second-choice language — not leave it to be deferred or decided later.
3. Demonstrate how, in preserving German 1, the district supports its own "equitable access" commitment, providing Bellingham High School students with the same number of language options as those for students at Sehome and Squalicum.                                                                                                                        

We ask that you sign this petition to keep first-year German at Bellingham High School!