A few days before school started, Trang Nguyen, Div. 876, bumped into her Latin teacher, Ms. Vaccaro. Expecting to make small talk about how their summer went, she received in her opinion, the worst news possible: the Latin program had closed and Ms. Vaccaro resigned.

 Before the program was closed, 124 students were enrolled in a Latin course for the 2016-17 school year, according to Ms. Hart, the administrator of world languages. Lane’s administration sent a letter via email to notify students and parents of the change on Sept. 2, four days before the first day of school.

  Students who were enrolled in a Level 2 Latin class had to select another Level 1 language, and will be required to take it for a total of two years. The options were Spanish, French or Italian, since those were the languages that had available space, according to Ms. Hart.

  Students enrolled in a Level 3 Latin class had the option of getting their third year language requirement waived and enroll in another elective of their choice and availability, according to the letter sent out by Lane’s administration.

  “We worked with counselors and administrators to find the best alternative courses for students, especially for the upper level Latin students,” Hart said.

  To some students, it was frustrating having to adjust their schedule last minute.

  “We did have a response from concerned students and parents and we responded individually to each of their concerns,” Hart said.

  The administration could not find a new certified Latin teacher in time, according to Ms. Hart.

  “Ms. Vaccaro was an outstanding teacher [and] the greatest challenge that we face is finding someone as good as she was that is certified in the state of Illinois,” Hart said.

  Since many Latin teachers teach at the university level, they are not required to have a certificate. Therefore, the challenge is finding a certified Latin teacher to teach at a high school level, according to Ms. Hart.

  For Nguyen, it was very hard to hear that Ms.Vaccaro was leaving.

  “She built up this environment where we were basically family, we had class together with the same people for two years and we got to know each other, [and] she got to know us. She took care of us and it was good,” Nguyen said.

  Elizabeth Meadows, Div. 977, had intended to take Latin all four years.

  “Personally, I was very upset because Ms. Vaccaro was one of my favorite teachers. She was a great inspiration to me, and she actually inspired me to take Latin next year because initially I didn’t want to take the language,” Meadows said.

  One point that Ms. Hart wanted to make clear is that “the program was not cut — it was closed because we didn’t have a certified teacher from the state of Illinois.”