French school to open its doors next fall

Come Sept. 1, over ten local children will be experiencing an alternative course of education, when the Conseil de District Catholique des Aurores Boreales opens its “French as a primary language” school here.
The official decision to offer strictly French instruction within an existing school came April 10, when the Conseil took into the consideration, interest parents in the Fort Frances area had in enrolling their children to such a program.
“We have letters of admission for between ten and 12 students right now,” said Jocelyn Belanger, executive assistant to Conseil director Joanne Thibotout-Debnam.
“We are going to start the hiring process for one teacher, and perhaps a teacher’s aide, very soon,” she added.
The “school” will in fact be a single classroom at St. Francis School, where the students, ranging between grades JK to 6, will receive instruction entirely in French.
Parents of children about to enter the program are thrilled about the decision. “I think it’s wonderful,” said Garet Frenette, who will have two of her children, 7 and 8 years-old, in the program.
“It’s a big step forward for our community,” she added.
“I’m thrilled,” echoed Gloria Seid, who plans to have her six year-old son go to the school.
When explaining the reason she liked the fact her children could get into the schooling, Frenette remarked, “Our reason [to do this] is we have a French-language background , and we didn’t want it to be lost.”
The criteria for students to attend the school are: they must be the children of fluently French-speaking parents; or have parents or siblings who also received French as a first language instruction.
Some students’ parents who do not meet the criteria, however, will have to go through an interview process. Seid, one of such parents, was hopeful that everything would work out, however, feeling the benefits of getting into the program outweighed any anxieties possibly associated with doing so.
“In French-immersion, which my son is currently in, it’s difficult for them to really learn French, because too much instruction reverts to English” she stated.
“When it’s French-only, at such an early age, it’s much easier for them to pick up–I think it should work out fine,” she mentioned.
Although technically the students attending the school are under the Conseil, Belanger noted that the school will adhere to the same school calendar students which the Northwest Catholic School Board follows.
More than a replacement for the English-only and French-immersion programming, currently offered by the public and separate boards, Conseil representatives have stressed that the French-only program is to be seen as an alternative to these other mainstay programs.
So-called “dual track” schools already operate in Geraldton, Marathon, Terrace Bay, Red Lake, and Ingnace.