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Columbia Public Schools To Open World Language Center

Meiying Wu
/
KBIA
Hickman High School.

Columbia Public Schools is moving forward with a world language center so it can continue offering advanced Japanese and German classes. Low enrollment in those upper-level classes drove the decision to merge them.

“Students then would still be able to pursue a language that they have interest in, but we would be able to consolidate that into a central location,” said Michelle Baumstark, Community Relations Director for CPS.

The plan was presented Monday to the Columbia Board of Education, and the district is moving forward with it. The center will be in one of the existing high schools rather than a new building.

Suzanne Yonke, the World Languages Coordinator for CPS, said Hickman High School and Douglass High School are the most central schools, but the location isn’t yet determined. 

“We already have buses that run between all of the high schools and the career center, so we’re planning on using that structure that’s already in place so it wouldn’t be an additional cost,” Yonke said. “The students would have transportation to and from the world languages center.”

There is no exact timeframe for when the world language center might open.