By Tiffanie Young

Japanese teacher Julie Dair, who has taught at Harvard-Westlake for seven years, will leave the school at the end of this year.

Following her departure, the Japanese program will be phased out.

Dair does not intend to teach again in the near future. She plans to devote her time to her daughters, Lily, who is 18 months old, and Aurora, who is 4.

“This year has been too much of a struggle balancing family life with school life, with the daily commute between campuses and five classes to teach,” Dair said. “I found myself yearning for more time with my girls and came to the decision to become a SAHM [Stay At Home Mom].”

“It has been truly fulfilling watching them grow from ninth grade to 12th grade, not only in their Japanese studies but also as people,” Dair said.

“Next year we will not have ninth grade Japanese I,” Foreign Language Department Chair Javier Zaragoza said. “Harvard-Westlake will continue to offer a class for those currently in Japanese until they graduate.”

For students who wish to continue Japanese, Japanese II, III, and a mixed class with Japanese IV and IV Honors will be offered next year.

The following year, Japanese III and IV will be offered. The next year, only Japanese IV will be available.

“Unfortunately, the whole program will be phased out,” Zaragoza said. “The main reason is that we do not have enough student interest to sustain the program.”