French immersion program cancelled for Grades 1, 2 at Minto school

After a week of uncertainty for parentsof French immersion students at Minto Elementary Middle School, a final decision issued Friday confirms that Grades 1 and 2 immersion will be cancelled this year.

The letter from the Anglophone West School District says French immersion will continue at the Minto school for Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8after the district was able to secure two more French second-language teachers and reconfigure existing teachers and combineclasses.

Upon receiving the letter, Brittney Penney, who has children inGrade 2 and Grade 5 immersion, said she was stressedbut at the same time, "I was relieved because my older daughterthey've secured a teacher for her."

Earlier in the week, the district sent a letter to families about the difficulty recruiting French second-language teachers for the school. It said that recruitment would continue throughout the week and a final decision would be made on Friday.

WATCH | 'We're taking a big gamble right now':

Minto Elementary French immersion cancelled for grades 1 and 2

10 days ago

Duration 1:30

Anglophone West School District says French immersion will continue at the Minto school for grades 3 to 8 after the district secured two more second-language teachers and reconfigured teaching staff and classes. The news left parents like Brittney Penney pulled in different directions.

The new letter says French will not be offered at the school for Grades 1 and 2.

Grade 5 intensive French will begin with the English portion of the curriculum for the first half of the school yearbecause aFrench teacher has been secured and can begin in late October.

A spokesperson for the school district said superintendent David McTimoney was unavailable Friday afternoon for an interview but would be interested in speaking on the topic early next week.

Chris Collins, the executive director for Canadian Parents for French New Brunswick, said he was devastated to hear the news.

"I think of these poor parents that want their children to have the opportunity to be successful in French second-language training in New Brunswick, and become bilingual in this, and have the opportunity to work and stay in New Brunswick," he said.

He said it is important to have students start French immersion in those early grades in order to increase the success rate of bilingualism.

Collins said his organization will be looking at how to support the immersion students who move to the English stream.

He believes the reason the Anglophone schools are havingdifficulty acquiring French second-language teachers is because of political instability in recent years.

"French immersion teachers are in high demand," he said. "They're moving in huge numbers to the French education system, and we're losing them. We need to offer incentives. We need to create stability within the system."

In a statement to CBC News, Department of Education spokesperson Diana Chvez, said the province is facing challenges with recruiting and retaining teachers. She said the department is working with districts to "develop strategies aimed at increasing the availability of qualified French teachers."

She also said the department is working to recruit French teachers internationally.

With the final decision from the district, parents such as Penney say they are are in a difficult position, having to make a decision quickly before the Monday at 3 p.m. deadline.

According to the letter, students can either move to the English stream and remain at Minto Elementary, or they can be bused to an Oromocto or Fredericton school to continue their French immersion education.

The letter says the possible schools include Assiniboine Avenue Elementary School and Gesner Street Elementary School in Oromocto or Gibson-Neill Memorial Elementary in Fredericton.

For those who choose the latter, the letter says the transportation team will prepare route and the district will decide which school students will attend, based on the number of students who choose to remain in the program.

Penney said on Friday that she contacted the district after getting the letter and was reassured that children who were in French immersion in Grade 1, now going into Grade 2, will be able to go into Grade 3 immersion next year, if there is a French teacher.

"We're taking a big gamble right now, moving our daughter into English for Grade 2, with the hope that for Grade 3, she will be able to have a French immersion teacher," said Penney.

"If not, then it's all out the window and her whole future is going to have to be English in a bilingual province."

Penney said it would just be too much to try and juggle two different schools in two different parts of the province with different travel arrangements, start times, end times and after-school care.

She said other parents she talked to on Friday, who also have more than one child in immersion, decided on a similar decision.

"I hurt for them, I hurt for myself, I hurt for our community, where we fought so hard years ago to have French immersion brought into our school, and now it feels like it's being taken away," said Penney.

"And with a community that's growing ... we need that reassurance for the future that we're going to be able to continue to thrive, offer these programs, so our children can stay in our province."