The Northwest Catholic District School Board has decided to phase out its French Immersion program—beginning with the senior kindergarten class this fall—due to a lack of enrolment and the overall declining population in the area.
“They did decide, because of low enrolment for our SK French Immersion class, that we would cancel the program starting this year with just that SK class,” noted Mary-Catherine Kelly, education director for the Catholic board.
The decision was made during the board’s last regular monthly meeting, which was held March 25 in Dryden, but the news only was released last Thursday.
Only eight students had enrolled to attend FSK at St. Michael’s School here this September during the recent registration period.
The board’s policy states the class cannot run with less than 20 students.
But there’s been some strong opposition to the decision since the March 25 meeting.
“We’re disappointed, naturally,” said Marie Brady, president of the local chapter of Canadian Parents for French and a member of the board’s French Immersion committee.
“There are many parents that are quite upset by the decision that’s been made,” she added.
“Canadian Parents for French (Ontario) denounces the decision of the Northwest Catholic District School Board to eliminate French Immersion,” the organization’s president, Monika Ferenczy, said in a statement Tuesday.
“The action by the board undermines the Ontario action plan to enhance student opportunities for French second-language learning and the new funding made available in March by the Ministry of Education,” she added.
The province had announced $7.8 million in funding to support a plan to double the proportion of secondary school graduates capable of communicating in Canada’s second official language by 2013.
“We’re hoping that with that added funding, they [the board] might consider a renewal of the program,” Brady said.
Board chair Gerry Rousseau was unavailable for comment as of press time.
The board based its decision on a number of reports and statistics provided by administration, including enrolment, attrition rates, local and regional birth rates, and baptismal rates.
For example, 58 children were baptized at St. Mary’s Church here in 1994. That number fluctuated considerably until 2000, when 40 children were baptized.
But there’s been a steady decline since then—with only about 10 children being baptized in 2005.
Meanwhile, the general birth rate in Fort Frances also has dropped, from 176 in 1992 to just 103 in 2002.
“That’s just the reality of our community. It isn’t a reflection that [the staff are] not doing something well or the program isn’t good,” Kelly stressed.
“They’re exceptional, they’re doing a wonderful job, and the parents who have their kids in the program are very proud of the teachers and of the success of their children.
“The children do very well academically,” Kelly added. “The kids at St. Michael’s School score exceptionally well in the EQAO standings. They’re above the provincial average.”
The Catholic board has discussed the possibility of phasing out its French Immersion program due to low enrolment for the past two years. Last year, it agreed to run the FSK class for the current school year—despite an enrolment of only 17 students.
The enrolment for the 2004/05 school year was 19.
Last September, the board formed a French Immersion committee to examine the program and recommend strategies to maintain its viability.
“We tried really hard,” Kelly said. “Unfortunately, we just don’t seem to have the children in the community.
“It’s not a reflection of the program itself, but it’s more of the fact that we’re in a time of declining enrolment,” she added.
“It certainly was a very emotional [discussion],” Kelly noted. “There wasn’t anybody around the table that didn’t want to see the program continue. . . . It was not an easy decision to make.”
Brady said the recommendation to phase out the program was not of the FI committee’s making.
“The motions that came through to the board did not come from the committee. The motions that came forward came from administration,” she remarked.
And she encouraged parents and concerned citizens to express their disappointment with the decision to the board office, trustees, and Education minister Gerard Kennedy.
“We haven’t given up hope,” said Brady. “We’ll still continue to speak with trustees and board members, and see if there’s a way we can operate the program next year.”
The local CPF is hoping to hold a town hall meeting next week to get parents and the general public mobilized.
Brady said they are looking for input from parents on how the program could be changed to better meet their needs. For example, starting the program earlier or later.
Local parents also should bear in mind that the Catholic board only is cancelling French Immersion in Fort Frances, she added. The program will continue in Dryden, where more than 20 children registered to begin FSK in September.
“We don’t want people to give up quite yet,” she stressed.
Meanwhile, students already in the program can expect to continue receiving their French Immersion education.
“We would continue to serve all of the children currently in our French Immersion program,” Kelly stressed. “We would be phasing out the French Immersion program on a year-by-year basis.”
That means the last FI class at St. Michael’s will be offered in 2008/09 while the final FI class will graduate from St. Francis School in June, 2014.
“All of the children that are currently in French Immersion, our board has a commitment to offering the program for the completion of Grade 8,” Kelly said.
However, the board also passed a motion March 25 allowing it to review the viability of the program again in future—in case the numbers should change considerably again.
“We reserve the right to go back and look at it,” Kelly said.
Because the program will be phased out gradually, staffing levels will not be affected in the short term.
“It’s not going to have an immediate large impact because we’re doing it just at the SK level,” Kelly remarked. “People aren’t losing their jobs over this.”
Those parents who registered their children for FSK at St. Michael’s School for 2006/07 are being asked to re-register their children in the school’s English program.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
