About 100 parents attended a special information session at Elora Public School on Oct. 23 to hear about the rearrangement
of French immersion classes in Centre Wellington.
The purpose of the review is to establish sustainable attendance areas and program boundaries, and to provide a balanced use of schools in the township.
A major reason for the review is the location of the Kindergarten to grade 8 French immersion program, which is currently divided among three schools. As of June last year, French immersion for students was divided as such:
– 134 students at John Black Public School, in Fergus, from junior Kindergarten to grade 2;
– 97 students from grades 3 to 6 at James McQueen Public School, in Fergus; and
– 45 students in grades 7 and 8 at Elora Public School.
The board is hoping to balance the school populations in Centre Wellington while at the same time have only two schools providing French immersion, as opposed to three, so students do not have to change schools as often.
The board presented a number of possibilities, but stated it prefers to drop French immersion from Elora, a school that is going to see a slight increase in its student population over the next few years.
James McQueen would take on Junior Kindergarten to grade 4 for French immersion, and lose the grade 5 and 6 French immersion program.
JD Hogarth Public School, in Fergus, would take on French Immersion from grades 5 to 8 and John Black Public School would lose its French immersion program.
Furthermore, students in John Black and Victoria Terrace would no longer be sending students to grade 7 and 8 French immersion.
The school board committee studying the boundaries is made up of several staff members, including the principals of the four main schools involved in the review (JD Hogarth, Elora, James McQueen, and John Black PS).
The information presented by the school board at the open house is available on the board’s website. It includes some comments and emails from parents, and some of whom are not particularly happy about the proposals, especially about James McQueen, which has no playground and only pavement.
The school board removed the names of parents for their privacy, but some of the comments were less than flattering.
One parent wrote of the proposal to move Junior Kindergarten to grade 6 students to James McQueen, “French immersion students have been treated like second class citizens by this board for years. Having students move from school to school in this small community, whereby they attend four different schools by the end of grade 12, is an unacceptable practice.
“The busing of JK students to the high school first, requiring them to change buses with little or no supervision while the secondary school students get off at their stop directly, has illustrated this lack of respect and concern for students enrolled in French immersion. This practice causes regular late arrival to James McQueen and John Black and requires earlier dismissal times. This directly interferes with French immersion students’ access to education. The English and secondary school students do not have to contend with these issues.”
That parent added, “Moving grade 7 and 8 students effective September 2009 creates a situation where the current grade sevens at Elora will have been required to attend four different elementary schools before they arrive at high school. English students may have had to adapt to two, at the most.”
Another parent disliked using James McQueen Public School entirely.
“James McQueen is the oldest, most physically uninspired school building in the community, without a blade of grass, tree or a play structure in sight. To suggest moving … students from the newer, more welcoming space of John Black to save them from moving around is really of marginal value given the facility.
“James McQueen is in serious need of upgrading to be deemed fit to attend. This proposed suggestion demonstrates, again, how the board devalues and mistreats French immersion students.”
A third parent wrote, “My son is due to attend the FI program beginning in Sept 2009. However, if the proposed changes take place and he is forced to attend James McQueen instead of John Black, my family will seriously consider moving to the Waterloo area for a more stimulating French immersion learning environment.
“We did not move from Toronto to a rural location in order for our children (our second son just turned one) to attend a neglected, out of date, inner city-type school.”
That parent was not alone in denigrating James McQueen.
“At the present, what I am concerned with if James McQueen becomes dual track from JK to6, is space. I can’t imagine 323 children attending James McQueen next year. While the larger school, John Black, sits with less than 165 kids … The school yard at McQueen is already ridiculously small and fully paved (I felt like I was sending my kids to an inner city ghetto school when we first moved here from the city).
“Both my children have sustained permanent scarring from falling on the pavement during track practices around the choppy paved yard (which I do know the board investigated in the past and found the loose chunks of asphalt to be toxic).
And yes I’d be happy to send you photos of their scars.”
McFadzen said that the trustees have not made up their minds about the changes, and the committee will be considering the report and comments before making a final recommendation.”
Anyone wishing to read the first boundary accommodation review report can find it on the board’s web site at www.ugdsb.on.ca.
