A move to pull the plug on a Richmond school's French immersion program has left parents worrying for their kids' futures.
Parents of the ten students at McNeely elementary's late French immersion were told last week by the school district that the program is under threat in its current form, mainly due to low enrolment over the years.
The students at the Cambie district school - who have only been in the program for six months - may be asked to merge with a fellow Grade 6 class at nearby Mitchell elementary, which runs an early French immersion program.
However, some of the McNeely parents who contacted the News are concerned about their kids sharing the same learning space as students who've been immersed in French since Kindergarten.
And they're reluctant to switch their children to another school for the final year of elementary before changing again for secondary in Grade 8.
"We already changed school last year, from Cook, to come here for the French program and we don't want to move again; especially the year before he has to go to secondary," said Daniel Anton, whose son, David, 11, attends the late French immersion program at McNeely.
"I really wanted him to learn another language and we were extremely happy with this program.
"We are both so sad and disappointed; we totally didn't expect this."
Anton urged the school district and board of trustees to re-think the move and, at the very least, allow the current Grade 6 students to see out the program in Grade 7 at their own school next year.
"It's not fair for our children to go into a class with students who've been doing this since Kindergarten," Anton added.
Georgia Tsonis, whose daughter Gracie, 12, is in the same class, said she understood the late French immersion program at McNeely was a minimum five-year commitment by the district.
"The school district is denying this, but we were told earlier this school year that it was a concern that there were only ten children in this year's program," said Tsonis.
"They need to complete this program through to the end of Grade 7 for our kids.
"They're only now gaining a little confidence with their French. But going into a class where the kids are probably fairly fluent could be a problem."
Tsonis has already spoken to school board chair Donna Sargent to air her concerns.
"They're taking it away too soon and should be phasing it out, not cutting it off," added Tsonis.
Sargent is well aware of the situation at McNeely and of the parents' concerns with having to move school and into a program with students with potentially more depth of French.
District staff, said Sargent, had been trying without success to get enrolment up at McNeely's program.
But, for "educational and financial reasons," she said, "it is being considered for change.
"Staff have spoken to the parents and the school for feedback and it is not cut and dried yet; it still has to come back to the board.
"The educational program for the French immersion at McNeely is not as good as it can be."
When you have more students in the class, added Sargent, and "more coming through from the lower grades, then it's better for everyone at the school."
School district assistant superintendent Lynn Archer told the News that, come the fall, the late French immersion (FI) program will not be available to new Grade 6s at McNeely and, instead, will only be offered at Whiteside or Diefenbaker elementaries.
Archer said the current program at McNeely is no longer "educationally viable," explaining that you need more than ten students at any one school to be immersed in French to get the most out of it.
And of the suggestion for the current McNeely Grade 6s to merge with their early FI counterparts over at Mitchell, Archer feels the gap between the two classes may not be as big as feared by some parents.
"There's diversity in every class and the students in the early FI program have been learning in a more experiential way," she said.
"And students in the late FI will have come a long way in Grade 6, so they may have essentially caught up."
Archer added that, after talking to the McNeely parents last week, the district is reviewing the possibility of allowing the current Grade 6s to see out the program in Grade 7 next school year.
A recommendation is expected to go before the school board at its next meeting, after spring break.
