French immersion students living near the new school in Rockwood will be able to continue attending Brisbane Public School, Upper Grand District School Board trustees decided at their Jan. 28 meeting.
The board heard from two delegations at the meeting with requests that their children be allowed to attend Brisbane for French immersion because it was easier for the parents to get them to the school rather than have to go to Rockwood under new boundaries drawn up for the school.
The issue was raised by trustee Kathryn Cooper who moved that siblings of students in Grade 1 at Brisbane in 2013-14, who reside in the new Rockwood French immersion attendance area, and whose families spoke at the board meeting, be grand-parented to attend schools at Brisbane and Erin, and Erin high school.
The move comes on the fact that at the conclusion of the Edward Johnson JK-6 Boundary Review, immersion students living in Rockwood/Eramosa were redirected from Edward Johnson in Guelph to Brisbane (due to overcrowding at Edward Johnson).
Some immersion parents from Rockwood/Eramosa exercised an option to be grandfathered at King George school for two years, and some went to Brisbane (grandfathering at King George leading to John F. Ross CVI was recently extended for students currently in Grades 1 to 8 French immersion).
“The two parents at last night’s meeting live within the new boundaries of the Rockwood program, which is starting with JK to Grade 1,” board administrative officer Mark Weidmark said in an email to the Advertiser.
“Their two older children, currently in Grade 1, will continue at Brisbane for Grade 2. The younger siblings, however, would have been directed to the new Rockwood program.
“The motion passed allows the students of these two specific families to remain on the same school path for immersion through Brisbane, Erin (7 to 8) and Erin high school (9 to 12), and not be split in two different directions.”
