The Oakville Beaver, W ednesd ay N o vem b er 14, 2001 - A 5 F r e n c h im m e r s io n s t u d e n t s c o u ld p l a y m u s ic a l s c h o o ls By Kim A rnott S P E C IA L T O T H E E D IT O R French Im m ersion students at O akville's Pine Grove school could end up attending four d ifferen t schools by the end o f Grade 8, under a plan recently approved by the Halton D istrict School Board. The ch ild ren , who attended kindergarten at their neighbourhood school and are currently in the Pine Grove French Im m ersion program (Gr. 1-6), will be forced to m ove to Gladys Speers public school in 2004 when their school closes. But once they hit Grade 7, the stu dents will again move to Eastview public school, before finally transfer ring to T.A. B lakelock for high school. On W ednesday night, concerned parents asked school board trustees to devise a new plan for dealing with southw est O a k v ille 's interm ediate students. Last month, the board decided to send all Grade 7 and 8 students from Queeri E lizabeth Park secondary school to Eastview, beginning next September. That will free up needed space at the high school for growing numbers o f north Oakville students, until a new high school in Glen Abbey is built. Trustees had considered creating a F rench Im m ersion G rade 1 to 8 school at G ladys Speers and an English junior kindergarten to Grade 8 school at Eastview. Eventually, however, they decided to keep Gladys Speers as an elem en tary school (JK-6), and move all area interm ediate students to E astview (JK-8). The board plan will require a $2.1 million renovation to Gladys Speers to add about 200 pupil places, and will mean some portables are neces sary at Eastview until a new school is opened in the area of the Shell lands. Parents o f French Immersion stu dents told trustees that their decision will split up scarce library resources and teachers, and fragm ent the suc cessful program. They want the board to keep all French Im m ersion students, from Grade 1 to 8, together at Gladys Speers. That would cut down on the num ber o f portables necessary at E astview school, keep French Jeffrey Simpson at Cdn. Club tomorrow Globe & M ail national affairs columnist and author Jeffrey Simpson is the guest speaker at the next Canadian Club o f Halton Peel dinner meeting, Nov. 15. Simpson will discuss his new book. The Friendly Dictatorship. Sim pson has won the N ational Magazine Award for political writing, and the National Newspaper Award for column writing. He is the author of four best selling books: Faultlines; Spoils of Power; Discipline o f Power (which won the Governor General's Award for N on-fiction) and StarSpangled Canadians - Canadians Living the American Dream. In January 2000, he was appointed an Office of the order o f Canada. The m eeting is at the' Oakville Conference Centre, 2515 Wyecroft Road. A cash bar is at 6 p.m. with dinner at 7 p.m. Cost is $28 for members and $38 for non-members. For tickets call 905-845-2862 or by fax 905-339-0469. The Canadian Club is a non-profit, non-political organization whose sole purpose is to bring topical, thoughtful, high-profile speakers to the com m uni ty. The Canadian Club o f Halton Peel serves the com m unities of Oakville, Burlington, M ississauga, Brampton, Caledon, M ilton and Halton Hills. Meetings are held six times a year -- the third Thursday o f September, October, N ovem ber, January, February and April. Time running out for free flu shots The Halton Region Health Department is offering free flu shots to Halton residents who are over six months of age at vaccination clinics in the following Oakville locations: Wed. Nov. 14 - T. A. Blakelock High School small gym from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tues. Nov. 20 - Halton Regional Centre auditorium from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thurs. Nov. 22 - St. Ignatius o f Loyola Secondary School gym from 3 p.m . to 8 p.m. Tues. Nov. 27 - H alton Regional C entre auditorium from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wed. Nov. 28 - O akville T rafalgar High School sm all gym from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Please note that the flu vaccine is contraindicated for anyone who is allergic to eggs or egg products; has had a previous reaction to a flu shot; has a fever or infection; is pregnant or planning a pregnancy in the next three m onths; has an unstable neuro logical condition. Life-threatening allergic reactions are very rare. If they do occur, it is w ithin a few m inutes to a few hours after the shot. Contact your doctor if you show any o f the follow ing sym ptom s w ith in three days o f the shot: high fever (40°C or 104°F); hives; sw elling of the lips, tongue or face; difficulty b reath in g ; lasting or w orsening w eakness; dizziness; convulsions. For m ore inform ation contact the H ealth D epartm ent's Flu Info Line at 905-825-6158. Im m ersion resources together, and improve the quality o f education for the students, parents told the trustees. "It would reduce the emotional and educational disruption our chil dren will have to live w ith," said Pine G rove parent C hristine Devoy. "A nything we can do to help our kids have less disruption in their lives, w e're going to push for." Parent Cindy M cCuaig added that the board's Oct. 17 decision "will m arginalize the French Immersion program in our community." She noted that about 142 Grade 7 and 8 French Immersion students will be lost in E astview 's population of over 600 students, and that the school will suffer from a "disproportionate num ber o f senior elem entary stu dents." But trustee Drew Currah, who rep resents southwest Oakville, says par ents o f English students at Gladys Speers have spoken out against any plan to move their kids to Eastview. If m oved, many neighbourhood students would be forced to walk right past Gladys Speers to go to Eastview, he said. "T here's no real solution to this thing," said Currah, who admits that the closure o f schools in southwest Oakville concerns him. He is still considering whether he will ask the board to am end its October m otion regarding the inter m ediate students. "I haven't made a decision one way or another," said Currah. Discover why State Farm insures more homes than anyone else. 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