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HomeMy WebLinkAbout‘C'est la guerre’ cry parents after French immersion cuts - Metro Vancover - 06/01/2017 - Metro Vancover - 06/01/20176/5/2017 `C'est la guerre' cry parents after French immersion cuts ,News / Vancouver 'C'est IIIa guenre' cir.y Ipairents, after IlFiirench lil-nimersloin cuts Already facing massive wait lists for their kids, families issue a cri de coeur against Vancouver School Board decision. JOINA 11 1 uIAIN 11 1AYWAIRID/ 1111 IIE CANAIDIIAIN 11::111RIESS Empty chairs and desks slit lin ain eirnpty classirourn liirn Vancouver, B.C. duirling a teadhE.'ins' strike lirn tNs Septeirnber 2014 film: Ipllncmto. The B.C. T�:MacIl�ieirs'Il::::�edeiratii(:)in's Victory at the Suipireime Co�..jirt of Canada iis IIDe,iiil g II.DIlairned foir the closuire of F::'ireinch iiirmnirmneirw bin classes Ibecau.,use of a lack of teachers and classiroorn spaces. By: [)avid 1�111, IlBalllll Metro, Published on rihu JUn 01 2017 There's no d6tente yet between upset parents and the government -appointed Vancouver School Board over its decision last week to cut five of the district's roughly 20 Kindergarten French immersion classes next September. On Wednesday evening, roughly 20 parents met with the Board's government -appointees who axed the classes without consulting them — hundreds of whom were on French immersion waitlists already. Related • F:� ire incliii liirrilirineirsion 1.)oorrIii ing In[E deslplite de,(,.11liine liin offl616I •('.1 fliires Vainc(,)ILAV(:Ir '13dho6III�3oaird afteir linvestik ation iinl~r[sUuingu bu.udget •[3. (3 III ducationNAuiirflst(:.r Hires MaincOLIVElir Sdhoo[3oaird • Vaincouv(air r <� [E ( ard si.isp(iri( s sd[m6� d�osuir() pirocess arrilidst 'seirr�jo�jSl , S) ��3 ) " I and 'Iirokjtfliiiing' 61egatioins http://www.metronews.ca/news/Vancouver/2017/06/01/parents-french-immersion-cuts-vancouver-school-board.print.htm1 1/3 6/5/2017 `C'est la guerre' cry parents after French immersion cuts Affected families are issuing a cri de coeur to fight the cuts ahead of their next meeting with authorities, set for June 21. In meantime, they're writing letters to appointed trustee Dianne Turner and the district superintendent. And they're pushing the proposed Green -backed B.C. New Democrat government to either hold new VSB trustee elections, or restore the previously elected trustees fired seven months ago over a budget dispute. "The scope of these cuts are completely unprecedented," said Glyn Lewis, executive director of Canadian Parents for French, in a phone interview. "It's shocking and outrageous. "Now about 1,300 kids will be turned away from French immersion in Vancouver. For the Vancouver School Board to turn all these kids away is simply unacceptable, that's how parents are seeing this." No one at the Board was made available for an interview on Thursday. But a report from the district's director of instruction, Adrian Keough, was presented at Wednesday's meeting with parents defending the cuts. A former French immersion teacher himself, he argued that immersion is just one of "a wide variety of programs of choice" similar to Montessori or fine arts that have been "popular options for families." And he downplayed the severity of the new cuts, arguing that in each of the five schools they're being implemented, at least one French immersion class will remain. The cuts were forced, he said, by the B.C. Teachers' Federation's victory at the Supreme Court of Canada, which forced B.C. to restore class sizes to 2001 levels. "This has contributed to the decrease in the number of available Kindergarten French Immersion spaces," he said. Kindergarten and Grade 1 are one of just two key entry -points for parents to get their children into bilingual schooling, the next chance being Grade 6. That means if they miss their chance or are waitlisted, they have to wait five more years in hopes of success, Lewis said. According to the chair of the Vancouver District Parent Advisory Council, Morgane Oger — who unsuccessfully ran for the B.C. NDP in the recent election — cutting one-quarter of the city's offered French immersion classes is "ultimately a matter of priorities and money" and should be reversed because of the importance of bilingualism. "I'm dismayed," said the mother of two originally from France. "Cutting those classes is bad empathize with the parents who'd really like to put their child in Kindergarten." Lewis alleged the timing of the cuts under what he called an "unelected and unaccountable" B.C. Liberal -appointed trustee feels a bit like a coup. http://www. m etronews.ca/news/Vancouver/2017/06/01 /parents -french- i m m ersi on-cuts-vancouver-school- board. pri nt. htm 1 2/3 6/5/2017 `C'est la guerre' cry parents after French immersion cuts "French immersion has been growing and healthy in Vancouver for 30 years," Lewis said. "I've never seen any program that's oversubscribed with waitlists having a school district cut it further. "For that to happen in the small window with a caretaker trustee appointed by the Ministry of Education seems like a big coincidence." Canadian Parents for French is a national bilingualism advocacy organization and more information can be found cin Its eb§uri:o. The Vancouver School Board's eaurlll Ill ire in,llrn rnf7 irneirslio in Ipiro girairin has a webpage as well. http://www. m etronews.ca/news/Vancouver/2017/06/01 /parents -french- i m m ersi on-cuts-vancouver-school- board. pri nt. htm 1 3/3 /!-- This code was added to remove the metadata from document view in Weblink -->