French immersion changes in JK to Grade 3 opposed by some parents

Some parents say there wasn't enough informed consultation with parents on proposed changes to the Ottawa public school board's French immersion program, which will be voted on Tuesday night.

The plan, if approved, would expand French immersion to all children for half the day (from 20 minutes per day to 150 minutes) in junior and senior kindergarten, but it would also reduce the number of hours of French immersion from Grades 1 to 3 for the children who stay with French immersion (from 300 and 240 minutes per day to 180 minutes).

The changes are being recommended as a result of Ontario's new two year full-day kindergarten program.

The parent council at Elmdale Public School in the Hampton Park neighbourhood is opposing the change, arguing that the Ottawa Carleton District School Board failed to provide enough detailed information to parents and that the original consultation process over three weeks wasn't long enough.

'Given us almost nothing'

"I want the trustees to come away with the idea that it's not acceptable or responsible to make a decision like this, that's of such magnitude, with so little informed consultation and feedback from the parents," said Geri Moss-Norbury, co-chair of the Elmdale parent council.

"If the board can show us — through research and an actual implementation plan for how this will be done, and that this is a good idea for children — then I'm sure people will be all for it. But they've just given us almost nothing."

The school board, meanwhile, said the response rate during the public consultation process in October was one of the highest in recent years. Five presentations were made on the subject at committees, 187 people attended four public consultation meetings, 3,841 survey responses were received from parents and staff, and almost 200 emails were sent to the board about the proposal, according to the board's report.

About 62 per cent of parents support the changes, according to the school board's report, while 53 per cent of board staff don't think students would benefit from the new model in junior kindergarten and senior kindergarten.

But a survey of teachers done by the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario suggests the number of staff opposed to the changes is closer to 75 per cent, according to Peter Giuliani, the Ottawa-Carleton president of the ETFO representing teachers.

He said teachers want access to the research behind the plan.

Moss-Norbury said she hopes a lot of parents will show up to a special school board meeting being held Tuesday night to vote on the proposal. She'll be making a presentation at the meeting, alongside others.