A concerned parent is hoping to have both her kids attend the same Midhurst school, but educational red tape has been blocking the way.
Prior to Monday's announcement that Ontario schools would be closed until further notice due to rising COVID-19 case numbers, BarrieToday spoke to Felicity Mitchell. She and her family moved to Midhurst last August and, upon enrolling her daughters into the local school, were informed the Grade 2 French immersion class was too full to accommodate her eldest daughter's enrolment.
“When I called Forest Hill, they said the French immersion class was full, but we could put her in English or she could stay at Oakley Park (in Barrie) and travel,” said Mitchell. “I don’t want her having to travel out of the area for many reasons, not the least is COVID protocols.”
As a registered nurse who has worked in long-term care, Mitchell is concerned about her daughter going to school somewhere different than where her sister goes.
Mitchell’s eldest daughter, London, began her French immersion at Oakley Park on Davidson Street, where the family was living.
When the family moved to Midhurst, Mitchell attempted to enroll the kids in the village’s only school, Forest Hill Public School. Mitchell was happy they had the French immersion that London wanted.
“She has done so well with French and really enjoys it; I don’t want to take that from her,” said Mitchell. “But it's also disheartening when she has no friends in the area because they all go to school together and she’s in another district.
"It's so confusing that she can’t go to the French immersion because it limits the amount of kids allowed, but she can go to the English class which has more," Mitchell added.
According to the Simcoe County District School Board, Forest Hill is at 155 per cent capacity. Mitchell was told her daughter could attend the English program, but not French. Her younger daughter, Liberty, was permitted to enter the kindergarten program.
Mitchell said she was told by Area 'A' superintendent Stuart Finlayson that the French immersion program is optional and therefore does not have to accommodate students in the local school district, but the English stream does as it has to comply with the Education Act in terms of making space for students.
Finlayson told BarrieToday that while he couldn’t speak to specific cases, he acknowledges the whole issue is a bit confusing, but added the school board’s hands are tied as there are two different parameters at work for primary classes.
“In the elementary panel, we have three distinct programming levels which are full-day kindergarten, a primary division which has Grades 1,2,3, and would include anyone in (Grade) 3/4 split,” said Finlayson. “The last programming level is Grades 4 through 8.”
Finlayson explained there are then two different parameters that feed into that system.
“Focusing on the Grades 1 to 3 section of that situation, we always have a collective agreement with the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) and their local district,” he said. “In that collective agreement, there is a stipulation of the number of children that can be in any class in those grades.”
Finlayson said it gets more challenging when the guidelines from the Ministry of Education become involved.
“In any class, from Grades 1 to 3, in the entire school board, you must have 90 per cent of your classes or less, at 20-to-1 or lower,” he said. “So there are two different things at play here, which are the primary class reduction concept in the ministry's guideline and then there is the collective agreement concept in our guidelines.
"For someone not in the system, I know it's very challenging to understand, but that's the umbrella we’re working under," Finlayson added.
Chris Samis, the board's superintendent of program (K-6) and special education, says it gets even harder to plan for new students as the board typically plans their following school year well in advance and programs across the board with every single class at 20 students.
“Because French immersion is an optional program, we do have the ability to be able to limit the number of students in there,” said Samis. “If a student was to walk in the door of a school and they were the 21st student, we wouldn't turn them away because as an English language school board we can’t not accept them. But adjustments would need to be made for us to meet our requirements.”
Since they would have to go over the 20-student cap in one area, Samis said, but that would affect the overall percentage.
“We do our best to keep every class at the 20-mark, but occasionally we have to pierce a class in order to keep up with overall numbers,” Samis added.
Mitchell says she's still frustrated as she believes it depicts the optional French program as superior or elite to the English stream.
“We live in a bilingual country, in a community where the school board has opted to offer public education in both English and French, and now are failing to meet the needs of the program and the community,” said Mitchell. “If space can be made for her in the Grade 2 English class, then space can be made in Grade 2 French.
"Something has to be done to correct this," she added. "It is unsafe, it is unfair and logically it makes no sense.”
Finlayson says he understands Midhurst is a growing community and one school is not viable as it once was. That could all change soon enough as Finlayson said help is one the way with another school.
“If you were to drive up Horseshoe Valley Road and when you get to the 4th Line of Oro township you’ll see an OPP detachment and paramedic centre. There are also about 500 or more felled trees and cleared land because we have a capital priority to build a new school in Oro-Medonte,” said Finlayson.
Finlayson said that school will help with the whole area’s growing population, but added it's in the very early stages.
Mitchell received correspondence from Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte MPP Doug Downey about the situation in which he said would share her suggestion that the Education "Act be amended to include both languages as a mandatory requirement with our contacts in the Ministry of Education for their knowledge and consideration going forward.”
Until then, Mitchell will hope something can be worked out soon so her daughter can get back to learning closer to home and meeting new friends in her area.
“My daughter has already invested two years into her French education, is doing well, and it is wrong for her to be denied entry into the local school, especially given that we are currently living in a global pandemic,” said Mitchell. “What kind of message does that send to a child about hard work?”
