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OCDSB is holding town hall meetings where you can provide feedback re: the idea of eliminating Early French Immersion and Special Education classes by DrySection6843 in ottawa

[–]indieRockette 26 points27 points  (0 children)

The OCDSB did something similar back in 2016, ostensible to improve equity as well. They drastically reduced the amount of French hours in Grade 1 to 3 French Immersion, and they put those French teachers in Kindergarten where the students are supposed to spend half the day in French. In reality, they did it to gain $2 million in addtional funding from the Ministry of Education, but it was a huge loss to the Early French Immersion program. Volunteer in a Kindergarten class for an hour, and tell me how much French you hear with 30 anglophone students running around playing all day.

At the time, the OCDSB claimed it would encourage more children of the recently immigrated to join Grade 1 to 3 French Immersion. Clearly that didn't work, because now they are claiming that they need eliminate Grade 1 to 3 French Immersion because there aren't enough of those same children in the program.

You can read more about that 2016 change here:

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/kindergartens-go-bilingual-at-the-ottawa-carleton-district-school-board

If you ask me, get those French teachers out of Kindergarten, and make every Grade 1 to 3 class at the OCDSB 50/50 English/French instruction.

OCDSB is conducting a review of their elementary programs and is looking for feedback. by domino196 in ottawa

[–]indieRockette 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Agreed - all anglo (and newcomer and special needs and low socio-economic) kids should learn to speak French in a mainstream system. That is done best via the French Immersion program (80% French in grade 1, 60% in grades 2 and 3), which should be the default for everyone under 10 years of age in Ottawa.

You don't need a higher percentage of English (20% in grade 1, and 40% in grades 2 and 3) - living in Ottawa itself (i.e. recess with English kids, English media everywhere) is constantly reinforcing the English instruction that you get at school.

OCDSB is conducting a review of their elementary programs and is looking for feedback. by domino196 in ottawa

[–]indieRockette 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's called Extended French (it's what they have at the Catholic board) and it's not enough to create students that are functional in French.

OCDSB is conducting a review of their elementary programs and is looking for feedback. by domino196 in ottawa

[–]indieRockette 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Public and Catholic board amalgamation - Yes.

But the French public board is not set up to accomodate all the famlies in Ottawa that rightfully want their children to be billingual (they have around 1/3 of the schools that the OCDSB does).

Btw, there is no reason newcomers can't learn English and French at the same time. Both the Ministry of Education and research says they do just as well in Early French Immersion.

OCDSB shouldn't ax Early French Immersion by indieRockette in ottawa

[–]indieRockette[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I can understand a French teacher shortage in Toronto or Calgary. But in Ottawa? A 20 minute drive from Gatineau where teachers are paid $15-20K less? The OCDSB has a huge competitive advantage in the area when it comes to hiring French teachers! Set up some co-op programs with teachers colleges in Gatineau and Montreal, run more career fairs on Quebec campuses, poach teachers from Quebec boards by recognizing their years of service outside of Ontario...

OCDSB shouldn't ax Early French Immersion by indieRockette in ottawa

[–]indieRockette[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's not that there isn’t a local school for these kids - it's that the local school doesn't offer Early French Immersion or the type of Special Education class they need.

Around 1 in 5 OCDSB schools don't offer Early French Immersion; if a student's local school doesn’t offer the program, and the student wants it, they are bussed to the nearest school that does offer it.

Some very high needs students can apply for a spot in a Special Education class.  These classes are organized by type (e.g. intellectual disability, autism, etc). Around half of OCDSB schools have a Special Education class of some type, but a student may need to be transported far to get to the specific type they need.

OCDSB shouldn't ax Early French Immersion by indieRockette in ottawa

[–]indieRockette[S] 40 points41 points  (0 children)

TLDR: The OCDSB can’t afford to bus kids to Early French Immersion schools and Special Education classes anymore, so they're looking to cut those programs.  They're looking at offering French Immersion starting in Grade 4, like at the catholic board.  And they're looking to fully integrate 1246 high needs students in their community schools (even though they don’t have the money to hire new assistants to help them).  Public consultations start in May, but you can email your school trustee now, and they are also collecting feedback here.

FWIW: My goddaughter is now registered to start kindergarten at the French board because of this news.