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Single-track French ‘segregation’

Single-track French Immersion is segregation and doesn't support the unity of Canada but embraces separation. It will affect the social fabric of our city. It will affect our carbon footprint.

Single-track French Immersion is segregation and doesn't support the unity of Canada but embraces separation. It will affect the social fabric of our city. It will affect our carbon footprint. It will lead to difficulties should a family have a child in French and a child in English. A decrease in enrolment in French Immersion will likely occur as families can't or chose not to transport children out of home communities risking losing French Immersion totally.

This is short sighted and scary. Expect significant negative effect on learning from larger class sizes and a much larger population of a single-track school. It is seen as cost saving when it's going to cost more then it will save, for renovations and in damages to the environment with more driving or busing rather then students being able to walk or ride bikes to school. Not only are the French students going to have to be transported, but the English students will have to be transported to those schools vacated by French. Families won't move to be closer to the school. They will have to find ways to get their children there or change to English at neighbourhood schools. What is going to happen if families chose not to transport to single-track? Will this board be proud they couldn't support the success of French Immersion with a city population of over 80,000? If the single-track school shrinks, what will happen in the Duchess Park school, where about 55 per cent of the student population is French? Decreasing that population in high school leads to a negative learning effect for students with then fewer resources. Keeping successful community dual-track programs in neighbourhood schools will lead to a growth in French Immersion not a shrink. Our children in French Immersion and English track schools together, will grow this country into a unified bilingual country.

Dual-track schools can support the children that start in French, but then for what ever reason have to move to English, but single track can not. Children in families shouldn't have to be split due to a single-track. If these community dual-track schools cannot grow any further in size, but are very successful and have a positive effect on student learning, why not start another community dual track school, rather then ending four?

Karen Clark

Mom to a Grade 6 and a Grade 5 French Immersion Student College Heights