Immersion plan for HRE may be quashed

Efforts to establish a late French immersion program at a West Kelowna school should be abandoned, trustees will hear tonight.

Despite several years of promotion by the school district, there isn’t enough public demand to justify launching an immersion program at Hudson Road Elementary, officials say.

“Three years of advertising and presentations have not generated enough interest,” reads part of a report to trustees.

Only four families said they were interested, in both 2019 and 2020, in having their children attend a French immersion program for students entering Grade 4.

Staff recommend the district now focus French immersion activities on schools where such programs already exist, as well as the new programs planned for H.S. Grenda Middle School in Lake Country and OKM Secondary School in Kelowna.