Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB) trustees are considering a student cap for French immersion (FI) programs throughout the board.
“It’s kind of a sad report in that it’s like the bubble burst,” said trustee Susan Moziar. “We have a program that everybody could come to and I guess it’s somehow being strangled by its success.”
The trustees were scheduled to make a decision regarding the 19 recommendations in a French review committee report at the Jan. 12 business operations committee meeting.
However, at the beginning of the meeting, before the report was presented, Erin/Guelph-Eramosa trustee Kathryn Cooper asked that the board receive the report for information rather than for a decision.
“I have a sense that there are a number of us who feel that we’re just not ready to make a decision on this at this particular point and it would be better to have it as an information item,” Cooper told the trustees.
Her amendment was accepted in a 5-4 vote.
The French review committee was created last January and the board approved its terms of reference on March 31.
The 32-member committee met seven times over the past year to discuss pressures the board is facing to accommodate growth in the popular FI program, as well as possible solutions.
The committee consisted of trustees, parents, teachers, union representatives, principals, superintendents and other board office staff.
Enrolling children in FI programs has become a trend in recent years.
“Elementary enrolment is actually in decline, yet within that, you take a look at the elementary FI and you see it’s on the rise,” committee facilitator Judith Nyman told the trustees.
“And it’s even higher than the provincial average.”
One of the major challenges facing French immersion programs across the province is a lack of qualified French as a Second Language (FSL) teachers and the UGDSB isn’t any different.
“If we are unable to hire sufficient numbers of qualified teachers, it really undermines the quality and sustainability of FSL programs,” Nyman said. “I would say for the last four years this board has unfilled vacancies, starting at the beginning of the year.”
She also said that the UGDSB is competing for qualified FSL teachers with every other board in the province.
“Every time you have an unfilled vacancy when it comes to French as a Second Language instruction, that means that you’re not being able to deliver the quality program,” Nyman said.
“So it’s one thing to want FI for everyone, but you need to have the resources to deliver the quality program.”
For teachers qualified in FSL, Nyman said it’s a good way to get into a full-time position at the board, but it does create a workforce that is inexperienced in classroom management and other professional development components.
Currently, students in French immersion programs are expected to receive 100 per cent French instructional time in junior kindergarten (JK) to Grade 2, 80% in Grades 3 and 4, 75% in Grade 5, 70% in Grade 6, and 50% in Grades 7 and 8.
However, because of the lack of qualified teachers, Nyman said that the amount of instructional hours is not consistent throughout the board.
“It’s because it’s not only not having enough French teachers, but it’s also the other staff that are in classrooms as well; the early childhood educators and the other support staff,” she said.
The recommended solution is to reduce the number of instructional hours to: 84% from JK to Grade 2, 68% from Grade 3 to 5 and 50% from Grades 6 to 8.
Adding full-day kindergarten is a contributing factor to the strain on the program.
Need for teachers doubled
“We have, as a board, always offered French immersion starting in JK, so by going to full day kindergarten, you’ve doubled the number of teachers you require in order to deliver the instruction to students,” Nyman said.
“So there’s been a draw on increasing the number of teachers over time.”
Trustee Linda Busuttil said she is frustrated with how full-day kindergarten was rolled out, “without a labour plan and without acknowledgement and consideration looking at how do we actually implement this really good idea.”
After taking into consideration a variety of options, the review committee proposed capping French immersion enrolments and limiting the enrolment year to junior kindergarten.
The report recommends capping the board-wide FI enrolment to 579 students per year, beginning in September 2017.
For Wellington County schools that means the following JK enrolment caps: 35 at Brisbane Public School, 30 Harris Mill Public School in Rockwood, 50 at James McQueen Public School in Fergus, and 25 at Palmerston Public School.
“I still feel that (in) the rural areas of the board where there is no accommodation pressures and therefore no reason to constrain the programs,” Cooper said.
“I have a problem with the cap, and even though the staff very kindly raised the cap for both Rockwood as well as the Town of Erin, I still think North Wellington and in those areas of east Wellington it’s still a problematic issue.”
Nyman said rollout of the enrolment caps is gradual and will provide stable, predictable enrolment in FI programs from 2024 and beyond. It will be up to the board to design how to implement enrolment caps and decide which students are eligible.
Trustee Marty Fairbairn commended the committee and said he supports the majority of its recommendations.
“The report is thoroughly researched, intellectually honest and logically rigorous and I have a huge problem arguing against any of the 19 recommendations,” he said.
“They’re prudent, they’re valid, they’re doing what has to be done without going overboard, they’re forward looking and they plan effectively for the future.”
Information meetings
Mozier asked that community information meetings be scheduled so parents of future students can learn about the report.
“Whereas many of our parents with children in school now have … heard about this, this really speaks to a cohort of parents of two- and three-year-olds that really don’t have much introduction to the school system,” Mozier said.
“Otherwise I think there’s going to be a huge backlash to this and I think the more that parents understand the reasons for this the better acceptance there will be for some of the motions that are in the report.”
Amanda Gudino and Lindsey Glavaz, from two Guelph school councils, plan to appear as a delegation at the Jan. 26 board meeting to present concerns about the French review committee report.
They are expected to request that the board maintain the status quo on enrolment until parent consultations have taken place.
To see the full report visit http://goo.gl/cZ8wYw.
Concerned parents have started a petition they plan to present to trustees at https://goo.gl/mdZDuI.
