May 17 2008
The Nail In The Coffin
Well, it seems that this was inevitable..
After next school year, Riverside Elementary in Maple Ridge will no longer have a French immersion program starting September 2009…
In the last year, we (the parents of students at the school) have fought the school board (and had a temporary reprieve) on the total closure of the school..
Then there was the whole “is Riverside causing cancer in teachers and students” — something that was ultimately shown to not be the case..
But with all the bad publicity about the school only six kindergarten students registered for the French immersion program there next year..
I’m sure that this is the beginning of the end for the school entirely..
Our oldest daughter goes there for the FI program.. We have two other children that we, ideally, would like to put into the same program when they start school.. So what do we do? All English? Or start the mad search, along with every other family that we be looking for a spot for their children to continue in the program we chose for our kids..
Some people may not see any benefit to the French Immersion program.. but I don’t see any problem with providing every opportunity for my kids..
Parent fought the school board and the school board won. They gave us something looking like a reprieve or victory last fall but it just made us go away thinking they heard and understood our concerns. There is a french immersion update on the school district website.