Victory day
Province commits $5 million to bring high school grades to École-Sur-Mer
The day that Acadian and francophone parents in the Summerside area have been fighting for has come.
The day that Acadian and francophone parents in the Summerside area have been fighting for has come.
The government of P.E.I. has committed $5 million to expand the city’s only dedicated French language school, ÉcoleSur-Mer, to include facilities for high school grades.
The funding was announced last week as part of the 2018/2019 capital budget estimates.
“It’s tremendous news for the French community, not only in Summerside but all over the province. We will be able keep many more of our students we used to lose,” said Gilles Benoit, a member of the school’s parent council.
“It’s great news for our community and we’re really excited about it.”
Having a complete education available to students in French, from kindergarten to Grade 12, is critical to the long-term survival of the culture here. So this is something a variety of groups having been demanding for some time now, added Daniel Bourgeois, executive director of La Centre Belle-Alliance, an advocacy and cultural organization for Acadians and francophones in the Summerside area. “We can organize all the French language activities at night … but it pales in comparison to the impact a school can have over kids throughout their learning experience, their formative years. Not only in terms of their language acquisition, obviously, but also their identity and pride,” he said. A spokesperson with the Department of Educations stated that now that the money for the expansion has been allocated, a committee of stakeholders will be created to decide how it should be prioritized. Parents and the French Language School Board have stated in the past that additional classroom space, a trades education facility and proper science labs were among the top items on their wish lists.
“The infrastructure will be able to accommodate all the programs that we would find in Three Oaks, Kinkora or Kensington high schools. Kids will have the same education they could have on the English side,” said Émile Gallant, president of the French Language School Board.
Until 2016 École-Sur-Mer offered classes from kindergarten to Grade 9, at which point students had to either switch to the English school system or transfer to École Évangéline in Abram-Village, about 20 kilometres away, to stay in the French system.
Gallant said that over the past six years the French system has lost about 70 students to the English system in Summerside because they opted to stay in their community to attend high school.
In an effort to stem that tide, the French Language School Board pushed ahead with a Grade 10 class at École-SurMer in 2016, have a Grade 11 and Grade 10 class this year and planned to add Grade 12 next year. However, the school had to squeeze in the classes at a school where space is already at a premium.
In 1999, the provincial government was taken to court over the need of a French school in Summerside. In 2000 the Supreme Court sided with those advocating for such a facility, prompting the eventual construction of École-Sur-Mer. The school currently has about 120 students.