Saint John mom objects to French education changes
Liberal party stalwart quits
Last Updated: Friday, March 28, 2008 | 3:46 PM AT
CBC News
A New Brunswick mother is challenging the provincial government's decision to force all Grade 5 children to enter intensive French classes next year.
Lisa Weir, of Saint John, said Friday she is concerned that changes being made to the education system mean a loss of freedom of choice. She wants her Grade 4 daughter, who has special needs, to continue to be educated in English.
But along with eliminating the option of French immersion beginning in Grade 1, the province has proposed a requirement that all students be enrolled in intensive French classes when they reach Grade 5.
Weir said it would be a disaster to force her daughter, who is hearing and sight impaired, into an intensive French program next year, and she has taken her objection to the province's ombudsman.
Her daughter's education goals are designed to improve her English skills in order to bring her closer to the level of her classmates, Weir said, and she needs help from a team of professionals.
"She has itinerant teachers for students who are deaf and hard of hearing, she has an itinerant teacher for students who are blind and visually impaired. There's speech language pathology involved, she has the support of an interpreter in the classroom. She has the support of a teacher's assistant in the classroom," Weir said.
"None of these people have French second-language training to work with an individual like my daughter."
Liberal stalwart resigns
Meanwhile a longtime Liberal party supporter and worker has quit over the government's decision to axe early French immersion.
Bob Bernier resigned last week as president of the Kings East Liberal riding association.
Bernier, who used to be a French supervisor in School District 6 near Saint John, said he resigned over the process the government used to trash the program.
"The decision of eliminating early immersion is one of the reasons, but the real reason is the process the government went through to arrive at this decision. It's based on a report that's, at best, flawed and I didn't want my reputation tainted," Bernier told CBC News.
He said he believes the government made the decision to kill the program long before it commissioned the report.
Bernier charged that Education Minister Kelly Lamrock hired two "non-experts" to deliver a report that would allow the government to kill the program.
