B.C.'s French immersion struggles have Vernon parents camping out and a Vancouver program overcapacity

Parents in Vernon, B.C., spent a night last week camped out in freezing temperatures to snag the hottest ticket in town: registration for their child to get into French immersion.

About 90 families lined up overnight on Monday, Jan. 14 to ensure their kids got a spot in the program.

"Very bundled up, but it was still fairly chilly," said Amelia Sirianni who, along with her husband, were among the parents  lined-up starting around 3:30 a.m. PT. They were 69th in the queue, "Which was pretty unbelievable."

Sirianni said she feels privileged to be able to line up at all: she and her husband were given time off work to register their child and had a volunteer babysitter. Others, she worries, aren't so lucky.

Problems with immersion aren't confined to Vernon and even B.C.'s education minister is admitting more needs to be done.

District confident all will be accommodated

Maritza Reilly, communications co-ordinator for the Vernon School District, defended "first come first served" registration, saying it provides certainty to families.

"We want to ensure that everyone who registers has the proper paperwork," Reilly told Daybreak South host Chris Walker, explaining other districts use a lottery. "That way we know right away where they stand in line."

Reilly said she was confident all parents who lined up for French immersion would get their kids into the program's 88 spots. Others will be wait-listed, she said, but she predicts demand will be met.

Glyn Lewis, executive director of Canadian Parents for French in B.C., wants to see improvements to French immersion capacity.

"From our perspective, no system is fair as long as we're going to keep children on the wait-list and kids are to be turned away," Lewis said.

Minister responds

Provincial Education Minister Rob Fleming says the scramble for French immersion shows a problem that has been building for years.

"It's a very positive thing to see demand growing for kids to learn both of Canada's official languages," Fleming said. "But we have had challenges, and we're working on a multi-pronged strategy to address those."

He said those efforts included recruiting teachers from across Canada and internationally. He said 30 teachers from France are teaching in B.C. or soon will be. As well, universities are ramping up French teacher education.

"We do have a number of districts that are able to meet demand," Fleming said. "But some districts, they set their own policies as to how they allocate French learning seats, if they don't have enough and unfortunately we're not there yet."

'I don't see the program surviving'

In Vancouver, teacher shortages are also a problem, but parents at Henry Hudson Elementary are dealing with a second issue: a lack of physical space.

The Vancouver School Board wants to move the program to Lord Strathcona Elementary on the city's east side to deal with Hudson being overcapacity.

Parent advisory council chair Robert Ford said that move could add 25 to 35 minutes commute time each way for students and parents who have to go with them.

"Most parents can't really add that to their timing," Ford told On The Coast host Gloria Macarenko. "I don't see the program surviving."

Adrian Keough with the VSB said the move was part of an effort to build a stronger program, struggling with overcapacity and understaffing.

"We have not had and continue not to have enough French immersion teachers to meet the demand of the program," Keough said.

The board will discuss the proposed move at a Wednesday meeting.

Listen to the ful interview with Maritza Reilly and Rob Fleming:

Listen to the full interview with Robert Ford: