November 10, 2009 to November 18, 2009
In order to protect the identity of all individuals who have submitted correspondence
with regard to the Central Guelph (FI) Accommodation Review and in keeping with the
Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, all personal
information and/or identifiers have been severed from all recorded communication
(i.e. e-mails and letters) prior to distribution. The intent or message has not been
changed.
November 10, 2009
To whom it may concern:
We are writing to express our opposition to any CAPS application towards FI.
Thanks and Regards
November 10, 2009
Mr. Borden
I would like to take this opportunity to state that I strongly believe that every child should be
able to access to French Immersion. It is my opinion that a second language is an essential
element of an education and our public school system should provide it to everyone. I would
be extremely concerned that a cap or any other restriction to access to French Immersion
would be contemplated by the UGDSB.
Response:
Thank you for your input into the Central Guelph Accommodation Review process. Your
message has been forwarded to the Board’s Planning Department. They will ensure that any
confidential details (ie. names, addresses, etc) are omitted prior to sharing your feedback with
the Accommodation Review Committee and posting it on the Central Guelph web page.
If your feedback included a specific question requiring a response from Staff, they will aim to
provide you with a response in a week. Should they not be able to respond within the week,
they will notify you with an expected response date.
R.J. (Bob) Borden,
Trustee, Town of Orangeville and
Chair, Upper Grand District School Board
November 12, 2009
As a parent of 2 children in French immersion at Edward Johnson, I like scenarios 8 and 8A
because I would prefer that my kids go to Waverly than to the other side of city to Paisley.
Since my children will be going to highschool at John F Ross, it makes more sense to me to
keep all their education on this side of the city, instead of them having to travel across town to
Paisley for 2 years.
November 10, 2009 to November 18, 2009
November 16, 2009
Hi Mr.Borden,
My name is _____, and I wanted to lend my opinon to the growing number of parents who
are opposed to the cap on french immersion in Guelph.
I have been told that english schools feel threatened by the growing number of FI students.
They are said to feel like we are pushing them out of their schools. However, denying or
repressing change, especially on such a large scale, can never become a permanent solution.
If there is a city whose largest population wants FI, than as a democratic system, we must
comply. Guelph needs to embrace the needs of our families, because it is families that make
Guelph what it is.
We have a huge support network of parents who are working with the ARC committees to
develop workable and creative ideas to accomodate our growing FI population. At this point,
with so many fantastic ideas coming through, it is irresponsible to allow a cap to be put on FI
for the reason that some people are afraid of change. It is a move in the direction of
educating our city's children to a higher degree, and opening opportunities for them for their
futures. The proof is in the research.
We need the school board to stand by us in this, and I look forward to the time when us
parents can stand with you Mr. Borden in union. It is key here to embrace our growth and our
change, and we hope you can be a part of this.
November 16, 2009
Hi Martha,
At the last public brainstorming session, I was led to understand that this review will move
ahead irrespective of the new development of full time kindergarten implementation, and I
find this disconcerting. Does this announcement not have any impact on the approach of this
review?
As I'm sure you are aware, full-time kindergarten has thrown an incredible obstacle into an
already challenging process. There was scarce sufficient space for the French Immersion
students in the South prior to this development, and now there will be really nowhere to place
a viable program.
Balancing enrolments and reviewing programs and grade organizations cannot possibly be
done properly without a full analysis and work plan regarding the impact of full time
kindergarten.
This leaves only the first objective of the ARC as achievable; finding a new site for the French
Immersion 7/8's. I have recently submitted a scenario that is very simple. Move gifted from
Waverley to PP, move 7/8 FI to Waverley as a holding place, and stop the review until they
know what is going on with the F/T kindergarten. That gets King George built in time and a
decent holding place for 7/8 FI in the interim. It doesn't do anything regretful, like closing a
neighbourhood school that otherwise would not have been closed once F/T kindergarten was
added.
If the ARC is going to continue to guide this process, I would hope that they would seek
direction from the board and board staff (who by the way have been wonderful) regarding
their mandate in relation to this new development.
November 10, 2009 to November 18, 2009
I propose that the above list of objectives is not currently addressable, and in some cases,
potentially no longer relevant. I am concerned that the ARC will feel obliged to continue to
move forward with this mandate in its entirety. Could a proposal not be put forward to the
Trustees recommending that they provide direction to the ARC with a modified mandate in
light of new events? I acknowledge that all of the above issues still need to be addressed, but
not until there is a better understanding of the impact that full time kindergarten will have.
With thanks and regards,
November 17, 2009
Dear Mr. Borden and Accommodation Review Committee Members:
The recent announcement that full-time kindergarten will be phased in in Ontario starting next
year must impact the accommodation review process. Please consider temporarily assigning
all the grade 7/8 FI students to Waverly Public School. There is currently room there to
accommodate this group if the gifted program for grades 6 through 8 were moved to Priory
Park. Assigning these students to Waverly for a few years would allow for time to see how the
implementation of full time kindergarten will affect the schools in the city and more clearly
show which schools will have the space to house the 7/8 FI students as a whole group or
divided into two or more groups. This would mean a delay in the final decision, but might
very well mean a better, longer lasting solution could be found. It would be regrettable if a
neighbourhood school were closed only to find that school would have been viable with fulltime kindergarten.
Scincerely,
November 17, 2009
Dear Mr. Borden and Accommodation Review Committee Members,
I noticed in the draft of the minutes of the ARC Meeting of October 29th that a topic of
discussion was introducing caps for French Immersion enrolment in the Upper Grand District
School Board and feel the need to comment on this issue.
I believe capping FI enrolment is a bad idea. As the system stands, anyone may enrol their
child in the FI program in Guelph: it is open, accepting, and requires no specially acquired
privilege. There should be no "us" or "them" as *every* parent is given that choice. You
choose what works for you and your child, I choose what works for me and my child. Each
family is given the same opportunity, so there is no one to resent for being excluded, no one
telling you, "Sorry, that option isn't available to you."
Capping FI enrolment will not magically fill the under-capacity regular track schools. A
number of students in FI programs would not be in public schools if FI were not an option for
them. The problem is declining enrolment and change in demographics as neighbourhoods
age. The solution is looking at the numbers of students in different locations and building
stronger programs for all children, not limiting the available programs.
Sincerely,
November 10, 2009 to November 18, 2009
November 17, 2009
Dear ARC:
I would like to commend you for the work you are doing and encourage you to
remain focused on planning for the future needs of students in Guelph. I
appreciate the fact that many more scenarios are being brought forward and I
trust they will all receive full consideration.
As you deliberate and make your recommendations please keep in mind the future
needs of students in Guelph rather than just react to current enrolment
situations. In particular, I believe it would be a bad idea to introduce caps
to FI enrolment in order to alleviate present space needs. Limits on FI
enrolment would be impossible to impose fairly and would likely cause more
displeasure than anything else. The fact is that FI enrolment is growing
because parents recognize it as a very good way for their children to learn a
second language. Plans for the future of FI delivery in Guelph need to
accommodate this growth. Likely this will require the establishment of an
additional FI centre or dual track school located in the south end where most
of the population growth is occurring.