By Robert Barron

December 3, 2011

Sweeping changes may be in store for the increasingly popular French immersion program in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district.
Among the 12 recommendations for the district, detailed in a long-anticipated report tabled this week at a meeting of the school board, is to end the present practice of offering preferential registration for new students who are siblings of children already in the program.

Because of the preferential policy, other parents have often been forced to line up outside schools for days during the annual registration each spring, to try to ensure their children get the remaining spaces in the program.

District spokeswoman Donna Reimer said the outgoing school board has referred the recommendations to the district's overall strategic planning process for further consideration.

The report's authors indicate that they recognized the fact that some parents may wish to have more than one of their children enrolled in French immersion programs.

But they went on to say the presence of an already-enrolled child should not entitle the family to have another placed ahead of a child with no siblings in the programs.

With approximately 1,200 students enrolled in French immersion programs in NanaimoLadysmith, participation rates in the district are above the provincial average.

But the limited space to offer the program in district schools led the school board to ask that the report be prepared.

Ladysmith's Davis Road Elementary School and Nanaimo's Hammond Bay, Pauline Haarer and Quarterway elementary schools offer the program, and secondary students continue their French immersion studies at Nanaimo District Secondary School.

Approximately 125 kindergarten students register for the program each fall.

The spaces are filled on a firstcome, first-served basis, with the priority given to students who have a sibling already registered in the school of choice.

Andrew Hope spent two nights sleeping in his truck at Hammond Bay school in the spring to ensure his daughter Nicola was high on the school list for the French immersion program this year.

He said while the current policy of preferential treatment for new students with siblings already in the program severely limits the number of available placements each year, he is in favour of retaining the policy.

"I don't think the term 'fair' is a word that I would apply to the process, but the opportunity for parents to sacrifice their time to get in line to get their kids in the program beats having a lottery to decide, as some suggest," Hope said.

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Source: Nanaimo Daily News / Canada.com