Diana Ferrari | With Italian Regents Reinstated, Community Members Celebrate At WICC

As the school year came to a close in June, students in Diana Ferrari's Italian classes were worried about the fate of the Italian regents, which, along with other foreign language regents including German and Latin, was set for possible elimination by the Board of Regents as a cost-saving measure.

"Our students got wind of that as well, and they were very worried and concerned because some of them have been taking it [for] two years, going into their third year," Ferrari, who teachers at Riverside High School in Yonkers, said, "They were becoming proficient and fluent and they wanted to know what was going on. We had no news for them."

But as of two weeks ago, Ferrari will be able to tell her students that the Italian regents will be administered, at least in June 2011.

And to celebrate the news, Ferrari along with local officials including Senator Jeff Klein and Senator Diane Savino (Staten Island) and members of the Italian-American community gathered at the Westchester Italian Cultural Center this past Thursday.

"I'm very proud of my heritage, and I'm sure everyone in this room is very proud of their Italian-American heritage. It's important," said Senator Klein addressing audience members, "And it becomes even more important when we think about the culture, what our Italian American youngsters now are raised on. They're raised knowing about the Sopranos or The Jersey Shore , not learning about their illustrious culture and their language. So I think it's very, very important that we pick up this fight."

Facing a possible funding deficit of $11.5 million for P-12 programs, the Board of Regents approved various cost cutting measures back in June. Some of these cuts, which included the elimination of January regents testing and all foreign language regents except for French and Spanish, were dependant upon the inclusion in the State budget of the $7 million asked for by the Regents.

After the budget passed, word went out that funding allowed for the Italian regents to be restored, although other foreign languages, including German, Latin and Hebrew, were still cut.

Senators Klein and Savino did note, however, that the exam was only restored through June 2011 and could be on the chopping block again next year.

"This is an important day because I'm looking around at this coalition and unfortunately, I think this coalition is going to have to kick into action again to make sure we can do it for next year," said Klein.

When speaking to the audience, Senator Savino, who is also the President of the Italian-American Legislators said, "Today is a victory in a battle, but it is not a victory in a war."

Others present included Honorable Francis A. Nicolai, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for WICC, members of the Order Sons of Italy in America, and Carlo Sclafani, Chair of the Modern Languages Department at Westchester Community College.

"I remember 30 years ago, we only had five high schools where Italian was studied in Westchester County," Sclafani said, "Today we have some 50 high schools where Italian is being offered."

After the presentation, Sclafani noted that at WCC, the Italian program began with two classes in 1971 and has increased to about 10 classes.

And Ferrari, along with Diane Maffei, who teaches Italian at Yonkers Middle and High School, both explained that many of the students in their classes are not even Italian-American, but rather, come from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

"We're not just reaching Italian-American students, we're reaching students all over who love language and culture and want to learn something different," Ferrari said.

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