February 7, 2015
The Honourable Liz Sandals
Minister of Education
14th Floor, Mowat Block
900 Bay Street
Toronto ON M7A 1L2
Dear Minister:
Subject: Halton District School Board Decision to Remove Full-Day Kindergarten at Pineland Elementary School.
I am writing to you to question whether the Education Act and Ministry Policy provides the Halton District School Board with the authority to remove full-day kindergarten from an elementary school. Here is a brief summary of the situation that I kindly ask for you to review:
1. Pineland Elementary School is currently a dual-track school offering grades JK to 8. The full day kindergarten (FDK) program started in September 2014. The FDK classrooms received capital upgrades in 2013/14 using Ministry of Education funds.
2. On October 1, 2014, the Board approved a motion to convert Pineland into a single track French Immersion school, offering Grades 1 to 8, effective September 2015. This motion also included a “grand-parenting” of the English program, with grade 8 English offered for the final time in the 2019/20 school year. A subsequent motion was approved for staff to bring back a report regarding the phase-out of FDK.
3. On December 17, 2014, the Board approved a motion to offer the FDK program at Pineland for a period of two more years. In 2015/16, Junior kindergarten will be offered at the school for the last time and in 2016/17, only Senior Kindergarten will be offered.
The following is an excerpt from the Education Act, Regulation 224/10: Full Day Junior Kindergarten and Kindergarten.
Operation requirement
2.1 (1) Every board shall, in every elementary school of the board in which instruction is given in grade 1, operate a full day junior kindergarten and kindergarten in accordance with paragraph 6.2 of subsection 170 (1) of the Act. O. Reg. 137/14, s. 2.
(2) Despite subsection (1), a board is not required to operate full day junior kindergarten or full day kindergarten in the following circumstances:
1. A board is not required to operate full day junior kindergarten in a school if, pursuant to a policy of the board approved on or before June 26, 2014, the school offers only French immersion, starting in kindergarten or later.
2. A board is not required to operate full day junior kindergarten or full day kindergarten in a school if, pursuant to a policy of the board approved on or before June 26, 2014, the school offers only French immersion, starting in grade 1 or later.
I interpret this to mean that the full-day kindergarten program must be offered at Pineland Elementary School for the following reasons:
1. Pineland will not “only offer French immersion” (section 2.1 (2) 1.) until the 2020/21 school year.
2. The decision to convert Pineland to a French Immersion school was made in October 2014, which is after the June 26, 2014 date specified in the regulation.
I do want to acknowledge the efforts of both staff and trustees of the Halton District School Board. Trustees and staff spent many hours working with the community on this issue so while I may not like the result, I certainly appreciate the time and effort that they put into this decision. I am only concerned with whether or not the Halton District School Board has an obligation to offer the Full Day Kindergarten program at Pineland School, based on the Education Act and any other relevant Ministry Policy.
Thank you kindly for taking the time to consider this question.
Yours sincerely,
(name withheld)
C.C. Eleanor McMahon, M.P.P. (Burlington)
George Zegarac, Deputy Minister of Education
Kelly Amos, Chair, Halton District School Board
Amy Collard, Vice-Chair, Halton District School Board
David Euale, Director of Education, Halton District School Board.
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We are closely following the situation in York Catholic District School Board, where parents are fighting their school board's decision to not implement Full Day Kindergarten (FDK) at their local neighbourhood school because it has become single track French Immersion, even though ministry policy documents — and even the education ministry website — that say “full-day kindergarten will be available in all publicly funded elementary schools” by September 2014.
The York families have started a petition to the Ontario Ministry of Education trying to right this wrong and realized that their board was not unique - “There are a lot of schools in the province that offer single-track French immersion programs without offering full-day kindergarten. This has become a provincial issue.” They have even hired a lawyer to fight for what their children are entitled to. In the meantime, the YCDSB has asked the Ministry if they must offer FDK in all schools - all parties involved are waiting for a response from Liz Sandals. With Halton District School Board having single track French Immersion schools [only in Oakville!] this decision will greatly affect things here. It is shocking to us that more Oakville families aren't up in arms over HDSB's decision to not offer FDK in all schools because the Education Act clearly states that: “every board shall, in every elementary school of the board in which instruction is given in some or all of the primary division, operate a full day junior kindergarten and kindergarten …”. There was a segment on CTV news a few weeks ago that said teachers are noting that many FDK classes are bursting at the seams. It certainly doesn't help that there are FIVE of Oakville's schools [Pinegrove, Forest Trail, Sunningdale, Munn's and EJ James] that do not and will not be offering FDK. Wouldn't it help to alleviate the crowding if ALL schools were obliged to offer FDK as per the Ministry of Education's own policy? We anxiously await the Minister's decision. Sincerely, Jennifer Wilson on behalf of Halton Families for Inclusive Neighbourhood Schools (HFFINS) Email sent November 18, 2013 to [email protected], [email protected], Liz Sandals [email protected]>, [email protected] cc: "Leone, Rob" <[email protected]>, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], David Euale <[email protected]> Although this letter excerpt comes from the other side of our argument, what we have in common is the lack of transparency HDSB has shown and timing of this 'FSL' report and how even citizens who were "following" this issue were caught off guard. Imagine what it must be like for parents who had no idea there even WAS a study going on and that it recommended the removal of English!
Email sent November 12, 2013 to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], cc: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], Diane Vandenbossche <[email protected]>, [email protected], David Euale <[email protected]>, [email protected] Dear Sirs/Madams: We are writing to you because we are greatly concerned that the recommendations contained in Halton District School Board Report #13150 do not follow HDSB's Equity and Inclusive Education policy, and with the lack of transparency with regard to this report, issued November 1, 2013. (taken from the HDSB website) The final report, released on Friday, November 1, 2013 will be of interest for parents of Halton District School Board’s elementary students in both the English and French programs. The Halton District School Board is among the largest boards in Ontario, serving more than 60,000 students spread out between 103 elementary and secondary schools. It is our belief that all public school board supporters/taxpayers should have been involved in this study. Many in families in Halton did not and do not know about this current study or participate in the survey because of its title - 'French as a Second Language Study' or 'FSL Advisory Committee’. This is very misleading since although the study examines how French is being delivered in Halton it includes core French changes and the readjustment of English school programming. One of the recommendations going before the HDSB is to redirect English Track students in a dual track school to another location when enrolment is low. This will 'grow' more Single Track French Immersion schools within a community without the community even being aware as there is no formal boundary change for all English track grades! On Friday, November 1, 2013 the Halton District School Board released their FSL report via their website, as below: After 4 p.m., on Friday, November 1, 2013, the report will be available online at www.hdsb.ca, under ‘Boardroom and Trustees’. The Board of Trustees will have its first discussion of the report at the next Board meeting of Wednesday, November 6, 2013. Trustees will also hear delegates wishing to speak on the issue at a special delegation night scheduled for Monday, November 11, beginning at 7 p.m. The report’s recommendations will come back to the Board meeting of November 20 for decision. For parents who didn't know about the study, didn't participate in the survey, are not in the habit of randomly checking the HDSB website or follow the HDSB on Twitter (which is the majority of Halton residents), they would have no idea that buried within the 87 page report is a recommendation for the removal of the mandated core English program from schools as a solution to high enrollment of French Immersion. The short six day timeline between the release date of the report on Friday, November 1 and the delegation deadline of Thursday, November 7 did not allow sufficient time for School Councils to convene and discuss the ramifications of the report. HDSB sent out five (5) emails in the days leading up to the release of the report, the day of the report and shortly following the release of the report and yet none of those emails even made mention of these recommendations or the timeline for schools or families to respond. Virtually all households in Halton receive direct emails from HDSB yet an email about this report was conspicuously absent.
They did tweet about the report, but we reiterate -- if you are not dialed into the lingo of the study, you wouldn’t know it included a major policy change. Out of the 8 tweets about it, only two made reference to the English program. Are we really supposed to learn of our board’s recommendation to phase out the core mandated program of our neighbourhood schools in a 140 character message on social media? The HDSB is not acting in an open, transparent and inclusive manner to the entire school population they serve [78% of HDSB students are English Track students and this 'FSL' report will certainly impact the programming within their schools] or to the taxpayers/community stakeholders that support the English public school board. As an optional program, French Immersion should be offered where space allows, serving the mandated core English program first and foremost. French Immersion boundaries are sometimes up to 5X larger than the English Track boundary thus creating extremely low enrollment of English at dual track schools. The public has delegated and warned the HDSB of the boundary discrepancies since 2008 and alerted them to the poor class numbers for primary ET students. Ironically, the HDSB is suddenly concerned about the English Track classes that have extremely low enrolment that are forcing triple grade classes and even redirecting grade one ET students out of their home schools, something those parents were unaware was going to happen. Why are the boundaries not being reduced for the FI program and more dual track schools being created as a solution to reduce bussing costs and maintain more walk-to neighbourhood schools? We believe that recommendation #4 has less to do with concern for the English grades, and has more to do with avoiding capping French Immersion. School councils and individuals have been delegating for an entry cap at dual track schools to retain a rich and diverse learning environment for both ET and FI classes. This is a policy that many boards, including the HCDSB, employ to maintain quality programs in both tracks and only expands the FI program where space allows. The HDSB counters that parents are choosing FI and they do not want to disappoint families by not offering this choice to all. We believe that many parents are feeling forced to choose French Immersion in order to stay in their local walk to school or for their child to be in properly supported and full classroom with diverse learners and friends. The HDSB carefully guards their attrition rate between grade eight and high school for French Immersion students which may support this theory of 'choice'. A decision made by the board on this issue is not just about numbers, it’s about fundamentally changing the face of entire neighbourhoods. That is a lot of power to exert. We ask that the Ministry take charge of this situation immediately. |
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