According to Bulletin 741 Louisiana Handbook for School Administrators Elementary schools shall offer an articulated foreign language program for 30 minutes daily in grades four through six, and 150 minutes per week in grades seven and eight. Each year a waiver has been filed with the Louisiana Board of Education to have this mandate lifted for Frost Elementary School. For 3 years I have fought to have this mandate be put into action so that our kids can have the same quality education as other students in our district. Commencing with the 1976-1977 school year, each parish school board and city school board in the state is hereby authorized to establish as a part of the general curriculum of instruction the teaching of a second language. The second language curriculum shall be so established as to include a program extending upward through all grades, commencing in the first grade and extending upwards to the twelfth grade, in a well articulated, sequential manner so as to afford all school children in the state the opportunity of attaining proficiency in a second language. If a parish or city school board does not establish a second language program by May 30, 1976, such a program shall be required upon presentation of a petition requesting the instruction of a particular second language. The petition shall be addressed and presented to the parish or city school board and shall request the instruction to be in a particular school. It shall contain the signatures of at least twenty-five percent of the heads of households of students attending a particular school within the jurisdiction of the parish or city school board. The superintendent of the parish or city schools shall determine the required number of signatures needed for each school and shall certify whether or not a petition contains the necessary number of signatures. Parents may petition to initiate second language programs in elementary schools, junior high schools, and senior high schools. Upon receiving a certified petition, the parish or city school board shall establish the teaching of the designated second language in said school as a part of the general curriculum of instruction. The instruction of the second language shall be developed to include the teaching of the language in each grade of said school in a well articulated and sequential manner so as to afford to the student the opportunity of attaining proficiency in the designated second language. Any student shall be exempted from the second language program upon request of the parent or guardian. The parent shall direct this request to the principal of the school or to the superintendent of the parish or city school system. I need your help and by standing together and signing the petition, we can make a difference.