Heather Latter
Anyone interested in enrolling their children in a French Immersion program has until tomorrow to complete the survey available on the Northwest Catholic District School Board’s website.
The board is looking at the potential re-establishment of the program at St. Michael’s School but needs to gauge the interest from the information provided by the surveys.
“I’ve had some parents tell me they are thinking about it,” noted Aimee Matheson, who initiated the idea to revive French Immersion here back in September.
“But if you want to have the option, we need you to fill out the form and show your interest,” she stressed.
An information meeting last Thursday night drew a good turnout of both parents and educators, with information about the process and program being presented.
“Generally in our board, the [French Immersion] program will start with the senior kindergarten class,” said Brendan Hyatt, the board’s superintendent of education.
“And once we start a senior kindergarten class, if we do, we follow it right through to the end of Grade 8,” he explained.
“In order for a class to begin, though, there must be a minimum registration of 16 students in any one year,” Hyatt noted.
“That being said, once this class is established, the board would continue to allow it to exist to Grade 8 [even] if the population dropped below 16.”
Hyatt said if enrolment numbers were reduced, there would be the possibility of combined classes.
Once the surveys are returned, Hyatt will prepare a recommendation which he’ll present to the board at its next meeting Jan. 20.
The board then will determined whether it moves forward with a French Immersion class here.
“The board would not likely go forward with a class of less than 16,” Hyatt remarked.
St. Francis School principal Kim Anderson spoke on the benefits of French Immersion at last Thursday’s meeting while Dr. Melanie Halvorsen, a graduate of the French Immersion program here, spoke about her experiences in it.
“It certainly is a wonderful program and we are aware of that,” Hyatt said, reiterating the board is willing to consider implementing a French Immersion program next school year for SK and Grade 1—if the numbers allow.
Hyatt said they aren’t looking to start the program any later than Grade 1 because in order to receive the French Immersion certificate, a certain number of hours is required, which would be difficult to accomplish any later than that.
“We are fortunate in Fort Frances that we did have a French Immersion program and most of those teachers are still working in the system,” Hyatt noted, addressing a question about qualified F.I. teachers.
“So if the program were to go, we have a lot qualified French teachers that we can tap into,” he explained.
St. Michael’s principal Darlene Fejos-Rousseau added there also are French-speaking teaching assistants within the board.
The French Immersion program, which was established here in the 1980s, began being phased out in 2006 due to a lack of enrolment and the overall declining population in the area.
But with local F.I. graduates now having children, and wanting them to have a similar opportunity to participate in the program, a group of parents created the FF Parents for French initiative and presented to the board at its October meeting.
The board agreed to start the process of looking into re-establishing the program by putting out the survey.
Registration for the next school year will open at the end of January.
Hyatt said he is available if anyone has any questions or concerns by contacting him at the board office (274-2931).
The survey is available at www.tncdsb.on.ca
