Centralizing the program and offering bilingual Kindergarten classes are just a couple of the many recommendations Northern Lights School Division (NLSD) trustees are considering when it comes to French immersion programming in Cold Lake.
During their March 8 board meeting, trustees were presented with six recommendations based on consultations held with parents of French immersion students.
“We held these consultations to talk about the value of French immersion programming, and the vision and thoughts for the program in Cold Lake. We did have a bit of a drop in the early grades and the viability of having the program at three schools is an issue,” said deputy superintendent Roy Ripkens. “We're very please with the number of parents that actually care. We took all of the information and formulated six themes or recommendations to provide to the board.”
The initial engagement session was held on Jan. 21. A group of 32 parents from Art Smith Aviation Academy, Cold Lake Middle School and North Star Elementary School gathered to provide their thoughts and ideas on the French immersion program. A follow-up consultation was hosted on Feb. 23 with 12 parents from North Star Elementary School, due to short notice of the first meeting.
The consultation was a result of decreasing enrolment numbers in the French program. French immersion students make up approximately 4.8 per cent of their student population for a total enrolment of 182 split between the three schools.
Parents were asked to provide their input on the pros and cons of French immersion, what can be done to increase enrolment and what they see for the future of the program and its location.
The first recommendation made was that NLSD commit to supporting French immersion in Cold lake for another three years with a view to reinvigorate the program. Administration also stated in their report that they could direct French Enhancement Grant dollars to support a public information campaign, outlining advantages of French immersion.
The third recommendation that came from the consultations was to centralize the program in the Cold Lake area to one school.
“There was a recognition that having French immersion over three schools is problematic, but parents didn't necessarily agree on where to centralize it,” said Ripkens.
In the end, administration felt the best place to offer a centralized Kindergarten to Grade 8 French immersion program would be out of Art Smith Aviation Academy. Other recommendations are to offer a French language summer camp for students and provide a bilingual French-English Kindergarten choice so parents can “test-drive” French language programming for their child.
The final recommendation that administration made to the board of trustees, is to incrementally decline financial support for French immersion programming. For 2016/'17, the division would fund $800 per French immersion student. That funding would decrease by $200 each year over the following two school years, to $400 per student in 2018/'19 before stopping altogether in 2019/'20.
“From the board's perspective, we're always happy when we have the input from our stakeholders to assist in the decisions that we make. When we are able to take our problems to the community, have the community generate ideas about how we can solved those problems and then have administration come back to the board with solutions balancing with our realities – from our perspective that's always a promising path for success,” said board chair Arlene Hrynyk.
While the recommendations don't make reference to the possibility of any high school French immersion programming, Hrynyk expressed that as the program continues to grow and develop it is an option they may be looking at in the future should the numbers warrant it.
The recommendations on French immersion programming in Cold Lake will be back before the NLSD board of trustees at their March 23 meeting for discussion and a decision.
