GTA board to decide fate of French immersion

Program at risk of closure despite high student demand

A GTA school board is poised to decide tonight whether it will begin phasing out French immersion, citing “a French teacher staffing crisis” across Ontario and despite objections from many parents.

Acommittee report released earlier this month and endorsed by staff at Halton Catholic District School Board called for ending the program, even as demand has been steadily rising for French education options throughout the region.

But some parents haven’t given up hope that trustees may opt to keep the early immersion pilot, especially in the wake of recent promises by Education Minister Mitzie Hunter to take immediate steps to address the teacher shortage.

“We’re really, really hoping that they make the choice to reject the recommendation and put the kids first,” said Cheryl Neves, who has daughters in Grades 3 and 1 in French immersion at St. Brigid Catholic Elementary School in Georgetown.

As a graduate of French immersion herself who now teaches it in another board, Neves says she has experienced the benefits first-hand and thinks all students should have the opportunity.

“It’s frustrating to see that neighbouring boards can make it work,” said Neves, who was one of 17 delegates to appear at a board meeting earlier this month to try to convince the board to keep the program.

“I know there are challenges,” Neves said.

“But how is it other boards are expanding?” she added, referring to the Toronto Catholic District School Board, which added five new elementary French immersion sites this year and one high school.

Under Halton’s controversial plan, staff have called for a gradual phase-out of the program, which is in its fifth year and has 821 students enrolled at four elementary schools who started in Grade 1.

If approved, all children currently in Grades 1 to 5 would be able to continue the program through Grade 8. The extended French program, which starts in Grade 5 and has run for 30 years, will continue.

It currently includes 1,623 of the board’s 34,000 students.

The staff shortage has affected the board’s ability to deliver those two programs as well as core French classes for all other students, Anna Prkacin, superintendent of education and curriculum services, said in an email.

For example, there are times when an English-speaking teacher is assigned to a French class until a qualified teacher is hired, she said. “We believe that programming decisions may be revisited once the (French) staffing crisis has been resolved.”

But advocates for French-language education, such as Betty Gormley, warn the Halton Catholic board is acting too soon in an era of recordhigh immersion and extended French enrolment in the province. Ending immersion “would be a travesty” in the face of rising demand, solid research on its benefits and the education minister’s recent promise to combat teacher shortage, says Gormley, executive director of Canadian Parents for French (Ontario). At a symposium hosted by the group last month, Hunter said the ministry’s plans include: recruiting qualified French teachers from abroad; introducing measures to attract more French-speaking candidates to teachers’ college; and a piloting program that provides financial assistance to teachers who want to boost their French qualifications.

Oakville parent Dalyce Bergeron said she doesn’t believe the board has given the program a fair shot or tried to creatively recruit, and that maintaining it as a pilot has likely deterred teachers who want security.

Bergeron, who has a son in Grade 3 in French immersion at St. Mary Catholic Elementary School and twins in kindergarten she had been planning to enrol, says they are among many families who, when forced to choose between a French or Catholic education, will pull their kids from the board.

In Toronto, the Catholic board is trying to avoid putting families in that kind of dilemma despite a French immersion wait-list that was in the hundreds after the application deadline early last year.