Latin at RHS Now at Risk

_{Awards won by Latin students in extracurricular activities related to the language. Photo by Austin Wymore.}

By Austin Wymore and Oliver George

Riverside Latin teacher Melissa Lido is at risk of losing her position. 

Lido has taught at Riverside for the past 13 years. She is the department chair for world languages, as well as Riverside’s sole Latin teacher, but recently learned she’s been placed on a displacement list. That means her teaching position could move to another school in the district next year. 

If she leaves, she takes the entire Riverside Latin program with her. 

Riverside is the only DPS high school that currently offers Latin as a foreign language, and has offered it as a class since it opened in 1991. Since then, Latin students have won numerous awards in extracurricular activities related to the language.

“We have students every year take the national Latin exam, and 90% of students who take that exam get awards,” Lido said. “We have what’s called the Junior Classical League, which is a state and national organization, and for the 13 years that I’ve been here we have placed in the top three in state competitions and students have individually won a lot of awards.”

Schools throughout DPS have been forced to remove several positions due to the recently changed budget, which reduced funding to schools by 15%. 

Lido’s Latin class was put up for displacement mainly due to its low enrollment numbers. Will Okun, the assistant principal who oversees the world languages department, declined an interview for this story.

Riverside is the only option for students hoping to continue taking Latin classes after middle school. Lido says that the lack of Latin classes in middle school is contributing to low enrollment in high school.

“Students want to continue taking Latin from middle school and something like 80% of students who take Latin in middle school continue taking Latin here in high school with me,” Lido said.  “I think the bigger issue [than district budget] is that not enough people have been taking Latin. 

“We also only have Lakewood Montessori [Middle School], and several other private and other schools that offer it,” she said. “The district got rid of Latin at Carrington years ago before I even came here. But if Carrington had Latin then we would have students from that school to feed into this program.”

Lido and her Junior Classical League students have created a petition to show support for keeping Latin at Riverside. 

“I don’t think she’s getting enough credit,” said freshman Eli Guajardo, a Latin student. “She’s an amazing teacher.”

Lido says that although Latin isn’t commonly spoken today, it still benefits those who take the time to learn. 

“Sometimes people wonder why you would take a language that nobody speaks,” she said. “One of the top reasons in my opinion is that you learn a language so that you can learn how to learn other languages. Taking Latin unlocks the ability to learn other languages because, for example, Spanish and French, which are romance languages, are rooted in Latin. Over 60% of English words also have Latin roots. And everybody who takes Latin has said that it has been useful to them on the ACT and the SAT.”