Page 4

ACTUELLEMENT AFFNO AVRIL 2017

L’immersion francaise vit pour
voir un autre jour

par Patrick Witwicki
e programme
d’immersion fran-
caise au niveau sec-
ondaire a Hazelton, Kitimat, et

Il y avait
beaucoup
de parents
dans la
salle de
Coast
Mountain
pour la
réunion du
29 mars.
Jackie
Lieuwen
photo,
courtesy of
the Terrace
Standard.

Terrace a été sauvé. A peine.
Pendant la réunion de la
Commission Scolaire Coast
Mountain (CMSD 82) mer-
credi, le 29 mars a Terrace,

le conseil a discuté le futur

de immersion frangaise aux

écoles secondaires de Hazel-

ton, de Kitimat et de Terrace.
La proposition, que le

personnel du CMSD a soumis
dans leur rapport, était “option
+: «D’offrir le programme
d’immersion de la maternelle a
la 12iéme année a Terrace, de
la maternelle a la 9iéme année
a Kitimat, et de la maternelle a
la 7iéme année 4 Hazelton.»

Le vote, par le CMSD 82,

a été divisé 3-3 (un conseiller
était absent), et la proposition
a été rejetée.

A peine.

Shar McCrory (Hazelton),
Sandy Watson (Thornhill), et
Angela Brand-Danuser (Stew-
art) ont voté contre la proposi-
tion; Raymond Raj (Kitimat),
Art Erasmus (Terrace), et
Margaret Warcup (Kitimat) ont
voté pour la proposition. Roger
Leclerc (Terrace) était absent.

Ca veut dire que le futur
de |’éducation est tombé a un
vote, méme en vue de tous les
arguments qui ont été présentés
avant le vote.

Voyez “La décision”’ a la page 5

French Immersion lives to see another day

by Patrick Witwicki
rench Immersion in
the Hazelton, Kiti-
mat, and Terrace high
schools survived. Barely.

During the most recent
Coast Mountain School Dis-
trict (CMSD 82) School Board
meeting that was held Wednes-
day, March 29 in Terrace, the

~CMSD discussed the future
of French Immersion in the
Hazelton, Kitimat, and Terrace
high schools.

The motion, which CMSD
staff recommended in their
report, was “option 4°: “Offer
the French Immersion program
from Kindergarten to Grade
12 in Terrace, Kindergarten
to Grade 9 in Kitimat, and
Kindergarten to Grade 7 in
Hazelton.”

The School Board then

voted, and it wound up in a 3-3
tie (one Trustee was absent).
Thus, the motion was defeated.

Barely.

Shar McCrory (Hazelton),
Sandy Watson (Thornhill), and
Angela Brand-Danuser (Stew-
art) voted against the motion;
Raymond Raj (Kitimat), Art
Erasmus (Terrace), and Mar-
garet Warcup (Terrace) voted
for the motion. Roger Leclerc
(Terrace) was absent.

This meant that the future
of education was decided by
one vote, even after several
minutes of discussion prior to
the vote.

Erasmus said he would
vote in favour of the motion.
“All students should be given
the same amount of funding,
but right now, we have to take
(funding) from other programs

for French Immersion.”

Raj talked about the impor-
tance of protecting the pro-
gram, yet he too said he would
vote in favour of the motion.

“This is just the first step to
French Immersion surviving in
our district,” he said.

Originally, Brand-Danuser
said that she would vote in
favour of the motion, only be-
cause “it was the lesser of two
evils,” she said.

But, she added: “I have a
problem with this.

“Are all other courses
financially viable? I would like
to see more work done with
this, and perhaps (offer) live
streaming in to Hazelton and
Kitimat.”

Watson said that the entire
process had been difficult for
the entire School Board.

“We all struggled with this,”
she said.

“I would like to see us keep
our options open so students in
Hazelton and Kitimat can get a
higher learning.”

But it was McCrory who
gave the most impassionate
speech of the night.

“Tam speaking against the
motion,” she said. “I don’t
see this as the best choice for
education for all students in
our district. We have to be the
voice of our students ... this is
not the decision we should be
making.

“Terrace has a larger
population, so there are more
kids enrolled, but in Hazelton,
(French Immersion) is the only
program of choice — there are
no other choices!

See “The decision” on page 5