Ian Derby-Turnbull, 12, is helped by his teacher, Kristi Bloc, in his Grade 7 late French immersion class at Glashan Public School. The program faces the axe in September.
Centretown families wishing to enrol their children in French immersion programs will have fewer opportunities to do so after a local school board decided to phase out late French immersion programs for this September.
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board’s move could mean parents in the Centretown area will have only one shot, at the senior kindergarten level, to enrol their kids in a French as Second Language program.
This possibility has some people in the Centertown community concerned.
“The intent is to make (French education) more close to everyone and yet they may be taking it away from our neighbourhood with no guarantees in replacing anything,” said Susan Derby, a member of the Glashan School Council.
“I totally sympathize with the other parts of the city that don’t have anything, but don’t do it at our expense.”
The board decided to phase out Ottawa’s 14 late immersion programs and replace them with 14 Grade 4 – or middle entry– programs after completing an eight-month study to improve the access to French as a second language in city schools.
It is not guaranteed that the schools losing the late programs will be the same schools gaining the middle entry programs
Derby, with Glashan School Council chair Shalini Periyalwar, lobbied to keep late immersion at Glashan, the only school in Centretown to offer the Grade 7 entry point.
They were unsuccessful in convincing the board to exempt Glashan from the changes despite the program’s high demand.
Jennifer Adams, the board’s superintendent of curriculum, says the board’s decision reflects two goals of the review – to improve the quality and increase the access of the second-language French programs.
The study suggested that late immersion programs have the lowest proficiency and enrolment numbers
“We have about 15,000 students that are in early French immersion . . . 1,100 students in middle French immersion and 800 students in late French immersion,” said Adams.
“With that very tiny number across the two later French immersion programs, it was very difficult to offer those programs close enough so that all students had reasonable access.”
The study involved a review of central data such as enrolment numbers and surveys sent out to parents, teachers and administrators.
The findings were presented to the board in September and approved in December.
Periyalwar, the Glashan council chair, is particularly upset with the board’s decision because she says the review overlooked some people’s opinions and showed no proof that late immersion should be cut.
“They did not take any input from the biggest stakeholders: the students who have done late French immersion,” said Periyalwar.
“I have spoken personally with these students and they were really taken back and upset that the program has been cancelled. They could not understand why the board thought it was not a good program.”
Ian Derby-Turnbull, Derby’s son, entered Glashan’s immersion program this year to better communicate with the French-Canadian side of his family. He can’t fathom why the board made such a decision.
“I was shocked,” said Derby-Turnbull. “So many people go into it. I really don’t like that they are closing it. People won’t have as much opportunity to learn French.”
Since Centretown has a steady flow of new immigrants, Derby is concerned about what the phase-out could mean for them.
“I don’t like to see us lose out on French immersion in the inner city where we have many higher-needs students who should have some local access (and) recent immigrants who should have that opportunity,” said Derby.
Derby and Periyalwar, however, won an amendment where the board will revisit late immersion in spring 2011 to determine if there is any continued need or demand for the program.
Currently, the board is determining the criteria for the middle immersion program placement. Three schools, in areas of the board where there was no access at all, have already been granted the program for September 2009.