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OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, March 25, 2009 · 4 English school parents at odds with trustee's motion Continued from page 1 issue, as a decision is expected to be made at Wednesday night's board meeting. While the last delegation evening, held in January, featured mainly Ecole Forest Trail and Pilgrim Wood parents, Monday night saw speakers from a wider range of schools. Representatives were on hand from schools such as West Oak, Emily Carr, Abbey Lane and Heritage Glen. All were opposed to Bateman-Olmstead's motion. Parents at West Oak want their school to be left alone. While they acknowledged the school is packed with students, they said things are fine the way they are. This comment led ELECTRIC FIREPLACE CLEARANCE in-stock items-some priced below cost while quantities last hurry in for best selection Bateman-Olmstead to roll her eyes and shake her head in disagreement. "On the basis of the original building, West Oak has been overcapacity since it opened, but you'd be hardpressed to find evidence of this," said West Oak parent Renaud Campbell. "Soon after it opened, a six-class portapak was added and this is now considered in the permanent capacity of the school. As for other common elements, such as washrooms, the library and the gym, our staff and students have adapted well and we do not see a pressing capacity issue now or in the future that requires such dramatic and immediate action." Emily Carr parents were upset with the idea that boundaries would change and students would be moved under Bateman-Olmstead's recommendation. The school opened in September 2008. "We sat before many of you just over a year ago and listened to you tell us that in order to protect the children in the Palermo community from moving schools twice in two years, that we would have to move from Captain R. Wilson Public School to Emily Carr Public School," said Kathy Morin, the parent of two Emily Carr students. "We embraced this new school because we were told, by you, that this would be the school our children could call their own. How do we now go back to our children and tell them that we lied to them and that they will, once again, be uprooted for the benefit of others?" An Abbey Lane parent questioned the validity of Bateman-Olmstead's motion. "Having witnessed what went on in Ward 3 (Oakville), our board, our superintendent and our trustee assured us that, despite tight timelines, this process would be fair, our issues and opinions would be heard and a solution would be found based on these results," said Jan van Huuksloot, vicechair of Abbey Lane's parent council. "Director Joudrie has tabled a recommendation based on the findings of the accommodation process and we at Abbey Lane find, generally speaking, it is an accurate reflection of our community. If you divert from this recommendation and vote for the motion proposed by the trustee in Ward 4, then you have essentially thrown the baby out with the bathwater and you will go against everything you have said to this community for the past year -- that their input is valuable and necessary." Similar to the previous delegation night, Pilgrim Wood parents were still looking for guarantees that if Joudrie's recommendations are approved, their school will stay dual track and not become a single-track French immersion facility if those students outnumber Englishtrack students by a substantial margin. "Although Pilgrim Wood has accepted the idea of French immersion coming to Refer a friend and save! 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For course information: www.drivewiseoakville.com info@drivewiseoakville.com Live Entertainment, Exhibits, Displays and more! 905.845.7200 our school in a dual-track setting, we still have one very serious concern that without sufficient controls, the mandated core English program will suffer, if not entirely disappear," said Lesley Dalgarno, Oakville Parents Encouraging Neighbourhood Schools (OPENS) member, Pilgrim Wood School Home and School Association president and Pilgrim Wood parent. The French immersion parents, who represented nearly half of the 37 delegates, provided several different arguments on why single-track French immersion is the best choice for students. They firmly supported BatemanOlmstead's recommendation. "The current (Joudrie's) recommendation does not provide better education for any of the students affected and does not even provide an experience equal to that which they currently have," said Colleen Bailey, French Immersion Really Matters (FIRM) spokesperson and Ecole Forest Trail parent. "We respectfully ask that you vote in favour of opening Palermo in 2010 as single track FI centre." Several Ecole Forest Trail parents provided examples of their children's efficiency in the French language to support what they consider to be a high-quality learning environment in single-track French immersion schools. "By the time he finished Grade 3, we took a trip to France for four days and you'll never guess who did all of the translation during that vacation -- yes, our eight-year-old son," said Wayne Constable, who has two children at Ecole Forest Trail. Ecole Forest Trail parents also highlighted belonging, which was shown as one of the few differences in a recent board study between French immersion and dualtrack schools in Halton. "To quote my 14-year-old son Michael, who experienced dual-track programming in Eastview in Grade 7, `I never felt I was part of the school, we never had enough French, like in announcements and stuff. The Englishtrack kids were definitely favoured by the office staff. All the assemblies were in English and we weren't encouraged to speak French outside of class. But in single-track, we were encouraged and rewarded when we spoke French, so it was really great when we got to go back to single track at Pine Grove,'" said Carleen Carroll, who has children at Ecole Forest Trail and T.A. Blakelock. Other parents stated that money given to the school board in the form of French as a Second Language grants more than covered the cost of running single-track French immersion programming, including busing. For information on the Ward 4 Oakville issue, visit the Halton District School Board's website at www.hdsb.ca.