Chandler Unified Governing Board Claudia Medina speaks at the Feb. 11 regular meeting. The board took dozens of actions at the meeting, including approving Tamil as a language to be offered at two district high schools in 2026-27.
Chandler Unified administrators speak frequently on the wide number of types of courses students can take, especially at the high school level.
The CUSD Governing Board approved, by a 4-0 vote, an agreement Feb. 11 that will integrate a new language into curriculum at two district high schools.
A contract with Tamil Academy allows Tamil to be integrated into the district’s world languages, with Arizona College Prep and Hamilton high schools planning to offer the language during the 2026-27 academic year that starts in July.
A staff report states that since 2022, the Arizona Tamil Sangam has operated a Saturday program at Hamilton High School.
A 2023 community proposal to integrate Tamil into the district’s World Languages curriculum was put into a committee pipeline to get it added to the high school course catalog, it states.
The International Tamil Academy is supporting CUSD by providing access to its curriculum resources at no cost to the district, according to CUSD Assistant Superintendent Jessica Edgar.
“We brought Tamil through the regular course catalog approval process,” Edgar said. “Site staff at Hamilton and ACP have chosen to offer it, should they ‘make.’ And the academy is offering its curriculum available to district students and teachers at no cost.”
Edgar explained that “make,” in the case of a world languages high school class, means there are about 24 students signed up during early registration to take a class. A second section can be added if there are significantly more than 24 students who seek to take Tamil, she said.
CUSD Superintendent Frank Narducci said he knows some members of the community have pushed for the course for at least a few years.
Edgar said the school site assistant principals work with the course catalog committee and department chairs — in this case, world languages — to see if a new language will be a viable option.
“Our principals and assistant principals are very knowledgeable about how if a new world language is introduced, that could decrease numbers of students in other world-language classes,” she said. “So that conversation needs to happen on-site.”
Patty Fernandez, the district’s assistant director of curriculum and instruction, said after the 60-day public display review period for new curricula, the proprietary materials won’t be publicly available, but can be made accessible to any parent at their request.
Tamil, according to the International Tamil Academy’s website, is an ancient South Indian language with a long history and rich literature and comprehensive grammar, currently spoken by about 86 million people worldwide.
Email Jason W. Brooks at jbrooks@iniusa.org. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.
INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA
Jason W. Brooks News Editor | Chandler Independent
Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.
Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.
Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.
Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.
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