French instruction at WMS

Posted Date: 10/01/2025

Weston Middle School

October 1, 2025

Dear WMS Parents and Caregivers,

I want to update you on our plan for French instruction at WMS. As you are aware, the teacher originally scheduled to teach your child’s French class resigned his position the day before school  began. Since then, our World Language CIL, Ms. Mercedes Fernandes, has been covering two of his classes and Ms. Traci DaSilva, our current French teacher, has been covering the third. We have also been engaging in an interview process to find a replacement. French instructors are a shortage area in the State of CT, and it has been a challenge to find a viable candidate that meets Weston’s standards. Our goal, as always, is to provide every student with the best possible learning experience.

After looking at our options, I am pleased that Ms. DaSilva, our current French teacher, will now be teaching your child’s French classes. She is a highly skilled and dedicated French teacher. Making this work necessitated scheduling adjustments that included:

• Collapsing a seventh period, sixth grade section of French and distributing most of those students into Ms. DaSilva’s period 2 and 4 sixth grade classes. 

• Combining some sixth graders from Ms. DaSilva’s seventh period class into her 7th period,  seventh grade French class. This will allow students to stay on team for all of their classes. Ms. Susan Forster, our new building substitute who is fluent in French, will support this class in the role of permanent teacher aide. 

• Combining two eighth grade French classes into one class of 30 students. Ms. Forster will also assist in this class. Additionally, we have two classrooms that we can use for breakout groups and extra space. 

• Finally, some students may see small adjustments to their schedules. This will allow us to rebalance the academic classes and have students remain on their current team.

While we are always searching for highly qualified staff, I anticipate that this will be our plan for the remainder of this school year. If something changes, I will be back in touch. Ultimately, I think this plan is the best solution for our students and am excited that all students will now learn directly from Ms. DaSilva. This plan will begin on Friday, October 3rd.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

Sincerely,

Jason Bluestein

Principal