Board to meet with French Immersion supporters later this month

Ecole Roosevelt Elementary School hosts the K-6 french immersion program

Officials with School District 52 have announced plans to meet with members of the local Chapter of Canadian Parents for French later this month, as they look to provide more information on the challenges that are being found with the District's French Immersion program.

The meeting which will take place in the afternoon of February 27th will feature District Staff providing an overview of their recruitment efforts and their plans for the program moving forward.

At Tuesday's SD52 Board meeting, District officials made note of the significant number of letters from French immersion students and the parents that have been forwarded to the Board office, noting at the time that the largest challenge for the local program is the national shortage of French immersion teachers.

In Prince Rupert, French Immersion is still offered in the community, but parents have expressed concerns that the expectations that they have for the program are not being met.

For it's part the School District has outlined how it has attended jobs fairs and conducted interviews through the year as they seek out new applicants for the Prince Rupert positions.

The current listings of the Make a Future employment site, features three French Immersion job postings among the seven postings for SD52 that are currently in place.

CBC's Daybreak North explored some of the issues of the shortage of French speaking teachers earlier this month, you can learn more about the local concerns here.

For more notes related to SD2 Board meeting of February 11th see our blog item here.

A wider overview of education themes in the Northwest can be found here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.