By Joanne Oostveen - The Weekly News
Some parents in Dartmouth say their kids are not being treated fairly.
"When it comes to having access to late French immersion things are not fair," said Colleen O'Hara Gallant, whose child attends Crichton Park Elementary. "My daughter will have to apply for an out-of-area request if she wants to get into Grade 7 immersion. There will be no bussing provided. What is wrong with this picture? It just doesn't make sense."
A group of parents, Dartmouth Advocates for Late French Immersion, held a meeting last week to see how many parents from Crichton Park, Hawthorne, and Bicentennial schools are interested in lobbying for a late immersion program at Bicentennial.
O' Hara Gallant said she attended the meeting to express her interest in having the school board make late French immersion a reality for her community.
"I want this to happen for my daughter," she said. "This program should be available for all students within the Halifax Regional School Board."
The late French immersion program is offered in designated schools from grades seven to 12. Those students in O' Hara Gallant's area have to make a request to attend Grade 7 at either Ellenvale or Caledonia junior highs, a request that O' Hara Gallant said is not reasonable or fair.
"My daughter would have to bus outside her neighbourhood and leave her friends if she wants to take the late french immersion program," she said. "And then she would have to return to Dartmouth High anyway, so why not have it at Bicentennial within our neighbourhood in the first place."
Susan Eldridge, an organizer of the meeting, said school board member Gin Yee has told them they need about 29 students, drawn from the current Grade 5 and 4 classes at the three feeder schools, to commit to late immersion before the board to will consider setting up a new French immersion class.
"When we looked into late immersion we were shocked to find out that because of our addresses in downtown Dartmouth we do not have automatic or guaranteed acceptance into a late immersion program," said Eldridge. "Instead we have to make an out-of-bounds request to either Ellenvale or Caledonia Junior High and hope there will be enough spaces left after all the in-district children have been accepted into the program."
She said with Kings Landing and other developments in downtown Dartmouth more families will continue to move into the area.
"The way things are now, there would not be enough spaces for interested parents to educate their children in French," said Eldridge." We would like to see a late immersion program started here to accommodate the children in the downtown core who should have the same educational options as other students in the Halifax Regional School Board."
Eldridge said the group has received a letter of support for the initiative from Coun. Gloria McCluskey and Eldridge said they will host another meeting in September.
"From a child's perspective, when transitioning from elementary to junior high school, most children do not want to completely leave their peer group. There is already a feeling of nervousness in moving to the new school," she said. "Asking the child to start a new school in a new language without anyone they know from their elementary peer group causes unnecessary stress."
Eldridge said they will not give up in their quest to have late immersion at Bicentennial because the location eases the burden on already busy parents who work downtown.
"We want to be able to drop our children at Bicentennial en route to a downtown office as opposed to going in the opposite direction to drop them off at Caledonia or Ellenvale," she said. "It just makes more sense."
joanneoostveen@accesswave.ca
