There is a possibility of a new Latin job for the coming academic year. It would involve teaching two periods of Latin at Kenwood Academy H.S. and one

period of Latin at the newly reorganized Miriam Canter Middle School nextdoor to Kenwood. To make it a full-time Chicago Public Schools position the teacher would have to teach two other classes in another field. That other field has not been determined yet and could vary with the candidate. Kenwood Academy offers 7 languages and the plan is for Canter to offer 4 including Latin.

The two periods of Latin at KA would include one period of Latin 1 and one period of Latin 2 and 3 combined. For the last few years the University of

Chicago which currently funds the KA program has also paid for an assistant to work with the more advanced students in the combined class. The class at Canter would be made up of seventh graders. Alice Mulberry has suggested that they should cover the first half of Latin 1 and in eighth grade complete the second half so that as ninth graders they could qualify for high school Latin 2.

This could be a very exciting opportunity. Alice Mulberry has met with the interim principal designate of Canter, Theresa Speegle, and found her to be very dynamic and supportive of teachers. The Hyde Park-Kenwood neighborhood has been working hard for several years to come up with this plan for a revamped neighborhood middle school which starting in September 2002 will provide the seventh and eighth grade program for students from Ray Elementary, Bret Harte Elementary, Shoesmith Elementary, and Murray Language Academy. Ray and

Murray are two of the city's best public elementary schools so there is the possibility of teaching some really excellent students. Ms. Speegle told me

that she hopes to offer special mini-courses at Canter and mentioned such topics as architecture and drama which would be a ball for a classicist.

Since both Kenwood and Canter are public schools, a candidate certified to teach in Illinois would obviously be preferred but Alice Mulberry believes that, with a subject like Latin, there would be some leeway for someone who is not certified if they are willing to work towards certification and will take steps to achieve it.

Anyone who is interested in this possibility should contact Alice at home by phone (773) 288-1242 or email at: latinlives@aol.com.

This material was posted on the web by Professor Thomas J. Sienkewicz of Monmouth College.
If you have any questions, you can contact him at toms@monm.edu.