Parents in Dorval are up in arms over the Lester B. Pearson School Board‘s (LBPSB) decision to close its international pre-kindergarten program.
Parents received a letter on Sept. 30 announcing the program will close for good in June 2017 due to budget cuts.
They are upset because they say one of the greatest things about the program is it exposes their children to a third language — either Italian, Mandarin or Spanish.
“I had to pull my three-year-old out of daycare to put him in this two-year program and now that it’s shut down, I have no back-up plan for next year,” said Emma Annett, a parent and teacher at the LBPSB.
“I’m devastated.”
The program is private; it was established in 2006 after the province told the school board it couldn’t run a pre-kindergarten program without going through the Family Ministry.
LBPSB chairperson Suanne Stein Day said the program was taking up space in a building that belongs to the Marguerite Bourgeoys School Board and finding a new space would be too cost prohibitive.
“Even though we have loads of space, the space has to conform to the Ministère de Famille guidelines, which is extremely tight,” she said.
Parents are still holding out hope they can somehow save the program.
“Myself and all the other parents who have kids in this program are very disappointed,” said Mark Broady.
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