Board yanks buses from French immersion students

WATERLOO REGION — The public school board will strip busing from 137 French immersion students after changing their school boundaries partway through their studies.

Unhappy parents now have a choice: take their children out of French immersion to move them into new schools opening near their homes, or drive their children to their current French immersion schools, now deemed outside their boundary.

“We’re very disappointed,” said parent Amy Dean. Her two daughters want to continue in French immersion but can’t do that at their new home school.

Trustees voted 5-4 Monday against providing busing for the affected students. Continued busing would have cost the board $84,000 a year.

“The board cannot afford it,” trustee John Hendry said. “We have to forget about the emotion.”

Other trustees argued that it’s unfair to take buses away from students partway through their studies. “This is a special case,” trustee Ted Martin said. “We’re changing the rules on them midstream.”

In French immersion, students learn in French for half the day. This board, unlike some others, does not typically provide busing for French immersion students.

The situation arises out of the opening in September of Groh Public School and Chicopee Hills Public School in Kitchener. Groh will offer French immersion only in Grade 1 and Chicopee Hills will open without French immersion.

Parents and students pleaded with trustees to maintain busing for affected students. Six students addressed the board in French.

“I don’t want to forget the language,” said Clancy Dean, in Grade 4. “I like to learn French,” said her sister Delaney Dean, in Grade 6.