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Surrey school board wants to expand French Immersion program

District had to close program at Cougar Creek Elementary due to low enrolment
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Due to a number of new school spaces approved and anticipated, the Surrey Board of Education is asking staff to look at the possibility of expanding the French Immersion program.

A staff report at the Wednesday, Sept. 19 board meeting showed that new school approvals throughout the district, the board is “better able to consider our balance of secondary French Immersion populations across the district.”

The district currently has French Immersion programs at Panorama Ridge, Kwantlen Park, Earl Marriot and Salish, along with Grade 12 students graduating from Lord Tweedsmuir this year.

In the report from superintendent of schools and CEO Jordan Tinney, he said that with more than 7,000 students in portables in the district, “the ability for us to find and create the space for expansion of a program of choice means that we must displace neighbourhood students in order to make room for French Immersion.”

“In some cases, we also end up moving French Immersion programs which creates instability for these families as our district grows and expands. These are difficult decisions,” Tinney said. “We have restricted boundaries to keep French Immersion in place at the expense of local students and we have moved French Immersion to make space for local students which creates uncertainty for French Immersion. All these decisions are related to space and growth.”

The lottery system, he said, does not put people on equal footing.

“This is not the case in French Immersion since those families who win the lottery once, are guaranteed space for any future siblings. This means that, in some cases, more than half of the “available” new kindergarten spaces are guaranteed to siblings of families who already are in the school and so the number of available spaces is reduced automatically before the lottery begins.”

The board also asked staff to report back by March 31, 2019 on the potential for a French Immersion expansion.

At the beginning of the school year, a report from the Canadian Parents for French B.C. and Yukon stated that French Immersion enrolment was down in Surrey despite increases throughout the province.

RELATED: French Immersion enrolment down in Surrey: report

But school district spokesperson Doug Strachan said that was due to a French Immersion program, which was created a few years ago, was shut down due to “very little enrolment.”

Strachan said the “decline” in French Immersion enrolment in Surrey is a result of a French Immersion program at Cougar Creek Elementary that was closed in June.



Lauren Collins

About the Author: Lauren Collins

I'm a provincial reporter for Black Press Media's national team, after my journalism career took me across B.C. since I was 19 years old.
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