Catholic trustees decide to keep J.H. Picard open
Unanimous vote also means school will retain French immersion program
An unpopular proposal to replace J.H. Picard with a new French immersion school on the southeast edge of the city was turned down by Edmonton Catholic Schools on Monday.
Instead, trustees voted unanimously to lobby the province for money to fix up the south-side school, the only one in Western Canada to exclusively offer French immersion from kindergarten to Grade 12.
This follows a public consultation process that saw 73 per cent of parents of J.H. Picard students opposed to the proposal to close the school.
“We’re hoping that this group of very passionate parents will take up the cause and help us to lobby the provincial government for the much needed funding for the infrastructure deficit, not only at J.H. Picard, but across the city,” chair Debbie Engel said after a special board meeting.
The school needs between $9 million and $12 million in renovations, Engel said.
The proposal to close J.H. Picard and move its 658 students was examined as part of a review of French immersion programming. It would have seen students in grades 7 to 12 moved to a new building planned for the Meadows neighbourhood, about 15 kilometres away, at 17th Street and 23rd Avenue, and elementary students absorbed into other French immersion programs nearby.
Instead, the school board voted Monday to:
include J.H. Picard in a capital plan to be submitted to the provincial government this spring;
support the elementary program at the school by allowing students from outside the attendance area to take the school bus with their older siblings; develop a long-term plan for French immersion programming in the school district, and; pursue an alternate possibility with he City of Edmonton for the new building in the Meadows.
Denise Kresic, whose children are in grades 8 and 10 at J.H. Picard, was “elated” with the decision to keep the school open, saying it was evident the board was swayed by strong opposition from parents.
William Taylor’s daughter is in Grade 6 at J.H. Picard and his younger daughter may go there in the future. That wouldn’t have been the case had the board decided to move the school, he said.
“I doubt that we would have sent either child way into the deep southeast of Edmonton,” said Taylor, who lives in Bonnie Doon.
“When schools close in a neighbourhood, it really tears the heart out of the neighbourhood. Picard was recognized by the board as a jewel.”
Coun. Kerry Diotte, who joined parents from his ward in opposing the proposed closure, called Monday’s decision “magnifique.”
“I definitely applaud the school board and the parents who fought so hard for this school,” he said, adding it makes sense to keep the school in Hazeldean, a mature neighbourhood close to the city’s francophone community.
The board also voted Monday to phase out the partial French immersion program at St. Francis Xavier over three years, beginning next September, and establish a new French immersion program at Archbishop Macdonald High School.
A proposal to phase out the partial French immersion program at Archbishop O’leary was rejected.
The public school board meets Tuesday to examine recommendations from its school closure moratorium committee.