A tense meeting was held in Collingwood on Thursday night as parents shared their frustration about a popular French immersion program possibly leaving the community.
Parents are upset with the Simcoe County School Board over plans to move the program out of one school less than three months after the program started.
The board says the French immersion program at Admiral Collingwood Elementary School is over capacity and the school doesn’t have room to accommodate students enrolled in the program going forward.
Many parents are upset because they moved their children to that school specifically for French immersion and their kids will have to move once again.
“We’re losing faith in the board, in their commitment to provide the program in one place. We don’t have a solution that’s long-term it seem a bit piecemeal,” said parent Alison Eckert.
“Parents disagree with this, they think because it started here it should stay here and we understand where they are coming from. But we have to look at the sustainability of the program,” says John Dance with the Simcoe County District School Board.
The board will make a final decision on the fate of the Admiral Collingwood French immersion program next week.
The board is also looking into French immersion programs at three other schools that have already reached the maximum number of students and are dealing with over capacity issues as well. Two of the schools are in Barrie and one in Innisfil.
