Parents Pan School District's Rosetta Stone Plan

A parade of residents at Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting roundly panned an idea floated by the outgoing curriculum director to use a computer program to teach World Language to elementary school students next school year.

Curriculum Director Marianne Gaffney – who is leaving the district in a month to take a position in the Cherry Hill school district – pitched the district’s plan to use the Rosetta Stone language program with a 30-minute presentation outlining the implementation of the program next year in the district’s four elementary schools.

Gaffney, who described how the district’s World Language program had been decimated by budget cuts in recent years, praised the Rosetta Stone program as meeting all state educational standards and as a cost effective solution for a comprehensive World Language program, saving the district about $156,000.

Parents were not impressed.

“This is a (Junior Varsity) approach to teaching World Language,’’ said Dawn Collett, of Dubac Road. “It’s very upsetting to a lot of people.’’

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The Rosetta Stone program, and the district’s plans to implement it, will be the subject of a meeting on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at the Intermediate School, 2801 Allaire Road.

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The district wants to purchase 1848 licenses for the program, one for every student and faculty member, at a cost of $36,200. With an additional purchase of headphones for the program adding about $30,000 and a single World Language teacher to oversee the program at about $70,000, the entire cost would come to about $136,200, Gaffney said.

In contrast, the cost for four World Language teachers – the number the district had prior to budget cuts – would be about $280,000, plus another $12,000 for supplies, the cost for the alternative is about $292,000. That cost, Gaffney said, would increase over time as teacher salary and benefits increased.

Gaffney said there would be daily monitoring of the program, along with monthly administrative reviews and two reviews with the public during the school year.

The program would not count, however, as a language grade on pupil report cards, she said. Rosetta Stone would send a monthly progress report home to parents, she said.

No deal had yet been inked with Rosetta Stone, board members said.

Nancy Smith, of Willow Drive, blasted the program in a short speech, calling it a “debacle’’ and said she was “furious,’’  “disappointed’’ and “annoyed’’ at the direction of the district.

Nearly a dozen parents expressed concern about the district’s plans, some saying the board did not appear to have done enough research on school districts that have adopted the program only to drop it later. Others were concerned about how the district would implement it.

“What’s most troubling to me is that it seems like the World Languages program is being turned into a non-academic subject," said Fred Grygeil, of Old Mill Road. “It seems to me if the school wants to have a strong World Languages program, then rather than turn to Rosetta Stone, why not turn to adding more teachers?’’