WINNIPEG – Thousands of south Winnipeg families will find out Tuesday night how a shakeup of neighbourhood schools could affect them.
The Louis Riel School division will announce at a meeting how it plans to solve enrolment problems at its schools in south St. Vital. Two French immersion schools are bursting at the seams, while some classrooms at six English program schools sit empty. The division could decide to convert some English program schools to French immersion in whole or in part. That would mean a change of schools for thousands of students.
For some, the change would be a welcome relief.
“Our school, Ecole St. Germain, cannot function another year as it is — we have lost all space,” said Jan Thiessen, who is on the parent council of the K-8 French immersion school, told Global News late last year. The division is looking at making it a K-5 French immersion school.
But it will mean big changes that not all parents will welcome. The division has held public meetings at all of its schools to get feedback on the various plans being considered.
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“There’s going to kids affected all over the place,” said Thiessen, “whether it means changing schools, changing friends in their schools, new teachers, new administration.”
Board staff will present their recommendations, and the board will make its decision at a meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Louis Riel School Division Board Offices at 900 St. Mary’s Rd. Members of the public are welcome to attend and ask questions following the board’s decision. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
The two overcrowded French immersion schools are Ecole St. Germain and Ecole Julie Riel. The six under-capacity English-only schools that could be affected are George McDowell, Dr. D. W. Penner, Highbury, H. S. Paul, Samuel Burland and Victor H. L. Wyatt.
Demand for French immersion is growing: Louis Riel School Division said it has almost 40 per cent of students in French immersion now, up from 25 per cent a few years ago. Eleven of 40 schools are French immersion.
A recent survey of parents in the new Sage Creek development showed almost half want their kids in French immersion.
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