Advocates of a full French immersion centre in Centre Wellington won a partial battle Tuesday night after Upper Grand District School Board trustees voted in favour of a parent-supported “Scenario 9 modified.”
The vote will see the current French immersion status at James McQueen Public School retained in September over a staff supported scenario that would have seen French immersion students split between three schools in Fergus: James McQueen, John Black and J.D. Hogarth.
The vote means that effective this September, James McQueen will offer classes from junior kindergarten (JK) to Grade 3 for regular track students and JK to Grade 2 for French immersion students. John Black will offer JK to Grade 8 regular track classes with Grade 4 to 8 students coming from James McQueen, while J.D. Hogarth will offer JK to Grade 8 for regular track students and Grade 3 to 8 for French immersion students.
Trustees heard from a delegation of parents at the Jan. 28 meeting who support Scenario 9 modified and who voiced concerns about the ongoing split of French immersion students.
The majority of the parents support a French immersion centre in the township.
After the vote, parent Amie Butchart said she hopes the board’s approval of the James McQueen boundary review will pave the way for an accommodation review she hopes will confirm the need for a French immersion centre in the township.
Butchard cited what she feels are poor resources available to French immersion students and poor Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) scores at James McQueen and J.D. Hogarth as part of the reason for consolidating French students at one location.
“As a community we have outgrown any solution that a boundary review can offer; our schools are not large enough to house our current population and I believe in two years or less we will be standing here talking again,” Butchard told trustees. “Once again the French immersion students have been treated like the caulking of the school system – there are gaps in schools (holes needed to be filled), [so] fill it with French immersion students ‘the caulking.’
“We are not asking for a new school to be built, we are asking for a French immersion centre accommodation review for a program that has grown by 30 per cent since 2009 and projected to grow another 33% by 2018.”
Butchard said currently there are over 325 students in French immersion from JK to Grade 8, split between two buildings. That number, according to Butchard, will be closer to 400 later this year – “enough to warrant a French immersion centre.”
On the issue of EQAO test results, parent Sue FitzGerald blamed low scores on dual-track classes.
“The school with the lowest Grade 3 scores in Centre Wellington is James McQueen – lowest in every category. The lowest Grade 6 scores – when taken as an overall number – are at J.D. Hogarth,” FitzGerald told trustees.
“What that tells me is it’s not just the French immersion program that is failing, it’s the dual-track system as a whole that fails both French and regular track students. Either way, it’s a rather bleak reality for French immersion students caught in the system today, who must attend the two worst performing schools in Centre Wellington.”
FitzGerald added, “It is all too easy to dismiss this as a French-English issue, but that is simply not the case. The group I’ve been involved with have worked tirelessly and deliberately to engage all parents stressing the need for collaboration in finding solutions that have the most positive school experience and best academic performance for all students in mind.
“Despite these opposing scenarios, and one that clearly favours regular track students, we are not a divided community. We are simply parents who want the best quality education for … children caught in a system that has been allowed to deteriorate and stagnate, and ultimately it is the students who pay the price.”
Butchard and FitzGerald said the parent group will “take a break” before starting work on getting a French immersion centre established in Centre Wellington.
