Is Cursive Writing Useful?

Cursive writing may have once been a common subject in elementary schools. But it's no longer commonly taught in the Leavenworth public schools.
The president of the Leavenworth Board of Education thinks it's still an important skill for children to learn.
"I don't pursue a lot things," Board President Nancy Klemp said. "I am going to pursue this."
The issue was raised during a Wednesday meeting of the Leavenworth Board of Education by Superintendent Mike Roth after Klemp had brought it to his attention.
Roth said cursive writing is not specifically being taught in the school system.
The superintendent said district officials will gather information about what other school systems in the state are doing in terms of cursive writing. He said they also may look at national data about the issue.
"We'll put together some data for you," he said.
Roth hopes to have the information ready for next month's school board meeting.
Roth is in his first year as superintendent of Leavenworth public schools. He previously served as the superintendent of the Clearwater school district.
According to Roth, cursive writing also was not being taught in the Clearwater schools
Cursive writing is taught at Xavier Catholic School in Leavenworth, according to Principal Evie Porter.
In a telephone interview Friday, Klemp said to some children, cursive writing may appear to be a foreign language, and they may not care whether they can read it. But she believes it's important for people to be able to read cursive writing.
She said many old manuscripts in museums are written in cursive.
"To me, it's just part of our heritage," she said.
Klemp said she sent a card to a granddaughter with a message written in cursive.
"My granddaughter said, 'Grandma I can't read this,'" Klemp said.
The board president said she has received a number of emails from people who believe cursive writing is important.
Klemp said she would like to see cursive writing incorporated into the curriculum at the Leavenworth public schools.
If only one teacher instructs children how to write in cursive, the students may forget it if it's not required in other classes, Klemp said.
"All of the teachers have to be on board with this," she said.
The Leavenworth Times

UPDATE May 21, 2015
Elementary school students will start learning cursive writing next year in the Leavenworth public schools.
Superintendent Mike Roth made the announcement during Wednesday's meeting of the Leavenworth Board of Education.
When the issue of cursive writing was raised during a school board meeting last month, Roth said that form of writing is not specifically being taught in Leavenworth public schools.
School board President Nancy Klemp argued in favor of teaching cursive writing.
Roth announced Wednesday that cursive writing will be taught in some form by the spring semester of the next school year. He said school officials felt they would be too rushed to try to start teaching it at the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year.
Board members were not asked to vote on the issue.
The superintendent later said the details are still being worked out, but cursive writing likely will be introduced to students in the third grade and followed up in grades four and five.
"We will have it implemented in all four grade schools," he said.
Roth said many important historical documents are written in cursive.
If students are not taught cursive writing, they may have a difficult time reading these documents, he said.
Board member Loyal Torkelson said cursive writing is a good motor skill.
Following the meeting, Klemp said she was pleased that cursive writing will be taught next year.
The Leavenworth Times