By Walter Byj
October 20, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
Let me begin with the following two paragraphs from a June article I wrote:
“For some it is a grand success story while others view it as an experiment that has created a mess. Either way, it has created a logistics nightmare for boards across the province as educators try to run both a successful English program along with a strong French Immersion program. School busing, disruption of community schools, huge uptake in French Immersion and a shortage on competent French teachers in Ontario is forcing many boards to review their current implementation of French Immersion.
Burlington school board trustee Richelle Papin was a member of the Program Viability Committee
“In Halton, the board recently created the Program Viability Committee (PVC) whose goal was to do a thorough review of the challenges that French Immersion has placed on the English program and to then propose a number of solutions that could alleviate any current problems. The committee, which consists of 22 members, includes the Director of Education, board superintendents, schools principals and three trustees. The trustees are J. Oliver (Oakville, K. Graves (Milton) and R. Papin (Burlington). “
After a number of committee meetings, committee chair and Director of Education, Stuart Miller gave the board his report with his recommendations on September 16th
RECOMMENDATION 1:
Be it resolved that the Halton District School Board present the following options for the delivery of French Immersion to the public in the Fall of 2015 for the purpose of receiving feedback, considerations and comments. Feedback will be brought to the Board for consideration in the delivery of French Immersion programming:
1. Option 1: Grade 1 (early) French immersion remains a 50% French 50% English delivery model, but entry to French Immersion will be capped. The method of capping would be determined at a later date.
2. Option 2: Grade 1 (early) French Immersion remains at 50% French and 50% English, however all French Immersion programs will be delivered in single track FI schools. French Immersion will be phased out of dual track schools and no new dual track schools will be considered. The location of the single track schools will be determined at a later date.
3. Option 3: French Immersion will commence at a later entry point (mid entry); Grade 4. This will result in the delivery model of French Immersion moving from a 50% model to at least a 80% French Immersion model. In addition the delivery of French Immersion will occur in dual track schools only.
4. Option 4: French Immersion will commence at a later entry point (mid entry); Grade 4. This will result in the delivery model of French Immersion moving from a 50% model to at least a 80% French Immersion model. In addition the delivery of French Immersion will occur in single track French Immersion schools only.
Director of Education Stuart Miller moves forward with the first initiative that has his fingerprints all over it – the public will get to see what he means by public engagement and how well he listens.
After a thorough discussion, these recommendations were accepted unanimously by the trustees at the October 7th meeting with the understanding that the board would do everything they could to ensure the public thoroughly understand the current situation and be highly involved in any future solution.
Fully understanding the scope of this project, along with the potential ramifications on the public, Director Miller, with the encouragement of the trustees, emphasized that intensive input and ideas from the public would be required before any changes could be made.
He said the options presented are just a starting point and other alternatives would be studied. All information that the staff has would be shared with the public so that they would have a solid understanding of the challenges that the board currently faces.
There will be no pre-determined decisions as input from the public will play a major role in the final decision. Much time was spent discussing the different ways the public could be included in the process. Director Miller mentioned the use of social media and focus groups as some of the methods.
However, the first step will be face to face public meetings on the following dates:
All meetings will begin at 7 p.m.:
BURLINGTON: Monday, October 26 Nelson High School (4181 New St.)
OAKVILLE: Tuesday, October 27 White Oaks Secondary School (South Campus 1330 Montclair Dr.)
MILTON: Monday, November 2 Milton District High School ( 396 Williams Ave)
HALTON HILLS: Tuesday, November 3 Georgetown District High School (70 Guelph St)
After some prodding from the trustees, Director Miller said he would be open to have a fifth meeting if necessary.
Parents can attend any or all of the above meetings; they are not restricted by the city/town they live in.
The first major test will be the crowd at the Burlington meeting; it could be a barometer as to how well the board is reaching the public.
Walter Byj has been the Gazette reporter on education for more than a year. He is a long-time resident of the city and as a parent has in the past delegated to the school board.
Have any of the committee gone through French immersion themselves or is this a one sided panel?
As someone who has benefitted from early immersion I know that those who start in grade 4 never have the same level of language of those who started young.
If numbers are capped it will mean some children will not have the richness of a bilingual education. It opens up not just Canada but a flexibility with language the world over. Early French means other languages can be learned with more ease. David Suzuki has done good programming on the topic.
As one never knows what path their child will take why not give them this wonderful tool.