The École Pine Grove School Council
529 Fourth Line, Oakville, Ontario L6L 5A8
Tel: 905-844-6371, Fax: 905-844-3780, Safe Arrival: 905-849-0231

People for Education is a group of parents from public and separate schools in Ontario working together in support of fully publicly-funded education.

You can reach P4E at 
P.O. Box 64, Station P,
Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2S6
phone: 416-534-0100
e-mail: p4e@peopleforeducation.com

Comments, submissions, community notices, and event notices are invited and may be directed to pgsc@vrooman.org. 

Quick Contents: Capital Plan Summary • One French Immersion Centre in Northwest Oakville • Status quo, c'est bon! • Your Opinion Matters!!!! Thanks to all who responded! • Planners recommend Option 2, however ... • West Oakville French Immersion Discussion • Your Opinion Matters!!!! • West Oakville Interim French Immersion Accommodation • Join Canadian Parents for French • Portable Inspectors Needed

Last updated Tuesday 28 February 2006, 9:00 AM

As many of you may be aware, the Halton District School Board recently presented its Draft Capital Plan. Please note, this is not the one year interim accommodation plan that we dealt with in November. This plan is a long-term strategy addressing the accommodation needs in Halton schools.

The changes related to Pine Grove and French Immersion Programs in west Oakville proposed in the DRAFT Capital Plan are as follows:

• Pine Grove: status quo- 12 portables
• Eastview: FI grade 7-8 students from S.E. Curtis Estates from Pineland School and Lakeshore Woods Community from Frontenac School are redirected to Eastview.

• West Oak Trails #3: (located on Pine Glen at Oakhaven) is built as a French Immersion Grade 1-8 school for West Oakville students who live north of the QEW (from both Pine Grove and Eastview).

• Pine Grove accepts FI students grade 1-6 from SE Curtis Estates from Pineland School.

Date Unknown

• White Oaks Secondary School accommodates all secondary FI students who reside north of the QEW.

• This Capital Plan is a starting point for the HDSB. It is a DRAFT awaiting input from the community.
• We must provide feedback to the Planning Department of the HDSB by March 9.
• This feedback will be considered when finalizing the Capital Plan/Accommodation.
• Oakville students deserve equal access to the highest quality of education, and Single Track French Immersion works.
• Pine Grove parents strongly supported an overcrowded school for the One Year Interim Accommodation Plan for 2006/2007 in order to maintain quality programming. This interim plan was accepted on the premise that the long awaited single track FI centre would open north of the QEW in 2007. The Draft Capital Plan is consistent with this premise. There will be 600 Grade 1-8 French Immersion students living north of the QEW in 2007. We have the numbers to fill a school!
• The HDSB needs to consider the impact of the Capital Plan on the quality of French Immersion programming south of the QEW, both at the elementary and secondary levels.
• Most importantly, our doors are bulging and we need the HDSB to provide all FI students with a solution that will not negatively impact this successful program.

The HDSB will be receiving feedback from many communities regarding WOT#3 and French Immersion. We need our voice for French Immersion to be STRONG.

Become informed, ask questions and think about what this plan means to your family. Copies of the Proposed Capital Plan can be viewed in the school office or on-line at:

www.hdsb.ca/main.aspx?sMenuKey=1066&sMenuID=1066&sParentID=70&sPageID=468

Please complete the “Proposed Capital Plan for the Town of Oakville Comment Request Form” available here and return it to the school no later than March 6^th. We will forward all forms to the Planning Department on your behalf by March 9^th.

The first question on the HDSB Comment Form asks in which “Review Area” you live. The review areas for our population are as follows:

• Review Area PE13: West Oakville, south of the QEW
• Review Area PE15: West Oakville, north of the QEW, but south of Upper Middle (Glen Abbey)
• Review Area PE18: West Oakville, north of Upper Middle, but south of Dundas (West Oak Trails/Upper Glen Abbey)

The second question on the comment form asks you if you support the Draft Capital Plan. It is not mandatory to “check a box” to state if you agree or disagree. This plan has many facets and we expect that our population will agree with some components and disagree with others. What the HDSB needs is meaningful feedback.

Pine Grove School Council:

• Laura Klemenchuk: 905-825-5579, lklemenchuk@cogeco.ca
• Kathryn Olmstead-Bateman: 905-827-8271, kolmstead@cogeco.ca

• Bruce Jones: jonesbr@hdsb.ca
• Susan Sheppard: sheppardsu@hdsb.ca
• Jennifer Hlusko: hluskoj@hdsb.ca
• Paul Tate: tatep@hdsb.ca
• Peggy Russell: russellp@hdsb.ca
• Wes Pulling: pullingw@hdsb.ca
• Janie Hanes : hamesj@hdsb.ca
• Ethel Gardiner: gardinere@hdsb.ca
• Debbie Downs: downsd@hdsb.ca
• Mary Chapin: chapinm@hdsb.ca
• Kelly Amos: amosk@hdsb.ca

• The Honourable Gerard Kennedy, Minister of Education
  Mowat Block, 900 Bay Street
  Toronto, Ontario  M7A 1L2
  minister@edu.gov.on.ca

• Kevin Flynn, Oakville MPP, kflynn.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org

This is our chance to ensure that our children and program are seriously considered when the HDSB makes long term plans for schools in Oakville.

École Pine Grove’s ever increasing student population is a clear indication of the public’s thirst for bilingual education.  In 2007, 600 students living in Glen Abbey and West Oak Trails will be in French Immersion in grades 1 through 8.  It will be next to impossible to accommodate these students in Southwest Oakville. The West Oakville French Immersion community agreed to squeeze the grades 1 to 6 students into an overcrowded Pine Grove with the expectation that they would be accommodated in one French Immersion centre north of the QEW in 2007.

French Immersion works! 

The Fraser Institute consistently ranks Pine Grove as one of the best schools in Halton.  The results of many recent studies suggest that bilingualism can positively affect both intellectual and linguistic progress. These studies have reported that bilingual children exhibit a greater sensitivity to linguistic meanings and may be more flexible in their thinking than are monolingual children (Cummins and Swain, 1986; Diaz, 1986; Hakuta and Diaz, 1985; Ricciardelli, 1989).  Recent testing also shows students in immersion programs have higher English reading skills than those in unilingual educational programs (Mary Allen 2004).

Jim Cummins, of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, released a comprehensive study of French Immersion education in Ontario in the year 2000.  In his report “Immersion Education for the Millennium: What We Have Learned from 30 Years of Research on Second Language Immersion” he noted the importance in the success of any immersion program are the resources that are required to enable it to function adequately and the continued high level of commitment of all involved in the program, from policy-makers to teachers and students. 

Jim Cummins’ research also found expressive skills tend to develop better in schools where the entire school is a French immersion centre rather than in schools where just one stream is taught through French. 

The Halton District Public School Board has designated a school site in West Oak Trails as a French Immersion centre since the first Capital Strategic Plan was developed.  

Previous capital strategic plans have indicated that a school north of Upper Middle Road would be a French immersion centre. This planning information is not reflected in the signage on the vacant proposed school sites, nor is it reflected in the developers’ sales pitches. Many of the families in West Oak Trails purchased homes near the sites of West Oak Trails 1, 2, 3, or 4 expecting that a school would be built, and that their children would attend it. They have a right to be concerned, just as we do! Unfortunately what a developer has said or what a sign may indicate does not determine the timing or configuration in which new schools will be built.

(Thank you to Brenda Cavers for compiling this information.)

At tonight's meeting, the trustees agreed to continuing with a real status quo at Pine Grove for the 2006-07 school year.  However, and these are important points, if the Town does not (or cannot) approve the placement of the additional portables, or if enrolment grows beyond our current worst case estimates, other options will have to be considered.

The final version of the school council delegation and its appendices are now available online, as is the final tally of "Your Opinion Matters!!!!" responses.

Now the hard part starts folks.  The trustees made a commitment to us based on our commitment.  Everyone's going to have to step up.

Thanks to the over 200 members of the Pine Grove community who have responded to the "Your Opinion Matters!!!!" feedback form to date.  Please look at the Questions, Answers, Comments, and Concerns page to see some of the feedback we have received on the options.  Contact information for your representatives at various levels of government is also available on this page.

In Report Number 05095: "Proposed One Year Accommodation Plan West Oakville French Immersion Program - Pine Grove PS" , released with the Wednesday 30 November Special Board Meeting Agenda, HDSB planning staff continue to recommend Option 2 - to move grade 6 immersion to Eastview next year, but recognize the community preference for Option 4 - the real status quo. 

Also recommended is a review of this plan one year hence, due to the continued uncertainty regarding accommodation funding.  Hopefully this review will take place early in the fall of 2006, and will include the broader French Immersion community, so that community options can be considered.  No hint or commitment is given to the development of a long-term plan for West Oakville French Immersion. 

Excerpt:

Staff Comment:

Pine Grove P.S. is under increasing accommodation pressure as a result of continued development growth being directed to the school. While it is proposed that this accommodation plan is for one year, this cannot be confirmed until confirmation of funding for new schools.

The redirection of students for a one year period is not without precedent at the Board, e.g. Orchard No. 2 JK students were directed to Ryerson P.S. for the 2005-06 school year while awaiting confirmation on the funding of the Orchard No. 2 school, the redirection of students south of Derry Road to J. M. Denyes P.S. and W. I. Dick P.S. for the period March to June 2006, while awaiting confirmation on the funding of the Orchard No. 2 school. Upon review of the options presented and submitted Staff maintain that the movement of the current grade 5 (2006 grade 6’s) to Eastview P.S. remains the preferred option.

However, there appears to be significant support to attempt the “status quo” option. As there are issues that need to be addressed to facilitate the status quo, we are suggesting that staff initiate the request for three (3) additional portables, prepare a staffing organization, and review transportation issues.

Recommendation:

Be it resolved that the grade 6 French Immersion students from west Oakville be directed to Eastview P. S. for the 2006-07 school year.

Be it resolved that this accommodation plan be brought back for review by the Board no later than December 2006.

Precedents supporting the redirection of students for a one year period are noted in this report, however, neither staff nor community comments regarding the circumstances, the consultations, or the success of these redirections, are included.

One might just as well argue that there are precedents for dealing with Pine Grove capacity problems within the school.  For example, earlier this year, two grade six classes were redirected to the library and the music room until their portables arrived.  Last year, following the fire, one grade 4 class was redirected to the library.  The previous year, in the dead of winter when the heating systems failed in the portables, classes were redirected to our special ed room, the library, etc..  In 1997, while the portables were being remediated for mould, classes were redirected to the library and the gym.

The delegations posted below are concerned specifically with the West Oakville French Immersion community's unique circumstances, and the arguments therein warrant consideration on their own merits.

• Delegation by Liz Galvin, "Pine Grove Overcrowding in 2006-07 – Is this the Best We Can Do?" - 24 Nov 05
• Pine Grove Delegation, "Status Quo, the Creative Option for West Oakville French Immersion Interim Accommodation" - 24 Nov 05
• Eastview Delegation, "The Trouble with Option 2" - 24 Nov 05
• West Oakville French Immersion Interim Accom - Update 05.11.21
• Average class sizes - magnitude of change, Don Vrooman, 20 Nov 05
• Lessons learned from the QE Park closure, Karen & Stephen Liptrap, 19 Nov 05

Comments and submissions are invited, and may be directed to pgsc@vrooman.org.

Your Opinion Matters!!!!
Friday 18 November 2005
From Kathryn Olmstead-Bateman, Laura Klemenchuk

Signature please _____________________________________

West Oakville Interim French Immersion Accommodation
Friday 11 November 2005
By Don Vrooman

Background

The growth in Northwest Oakville in the last 5 years has been reflected in the growth the West Oakville French Immersion community.  There are now approximately 350 kids in grades 1-8 in the program, and next year that number will swell to around 400.  The nature of the program, with only entry point, means that grade one is where most of the growth appears. 

This year, Pine Grove has 790 students in 33 classes.  In June 2006, 88 grade six students will graduate and move to Eastview.  In September, like this year, approximately 200 grade one students will start in French immersion.  The net gain for Pine Grove will be over 100 students. 

It is expected that this growth will continue as communities west of Highway 25 and north or Highway 5 open up.  By 2007, the number of grades 1-8 students in the program living north of Upper Middle Road will reach 450.  The school board has recognized that Northwest Oakville needs a French Immersion centre of its own, and Pine Glen School, planned to open in 2007, is a likely destination.  However, until an accommodation study is done, probably about this time next year, this isn't certain. 

Understand the Options

For now, we have to cope with the French Immersion growth in existing schools or in portables.  At the committee of the whole board meeting on November 2, HDSB planners presented three accommodation reports to the trustees.  Report # 05084 outlines three options for accommodating grades 1-6 French Immersion in West Oakville, and recommends the second. 

The initial expectation was that the trustees would consider the staff recommendations in all three reports for two weeks and approve them at the board meeting on November 16.  As the options had been developed by staff, the trustees asked for additional time to so that they might inform and consult the affected communities before making their decisions.  A special board meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday 30 November at 7:00 PM to hear delegations, debate the options, and make decisions.

Earlier this week at Eastview PS, the planners presented their options and recommendation for West Oakville Interim French Immersion Accommodation.  Details can be found on the HDSB website at http://www.hdsb.ca/main.aspx?sMenuKey=1056&sMenuID=462&sParentID=405&sPageID=462.  The meeting was well attended and many questions were asked and many suggestions made.  The planners asked for feedback on the options presented, and invited new ideas from the community.  However, this feedback must reach them by Monday 14 November.

Send in Comment Forms by Monday 14 November!

Comment forms are available on the Board website showing the three options from Report # 05084.  A revised comment form has been sent home by backpack and is available here as a printable Acrobat PDF, and as an editable Word document.  Please consider all the options presented, and add your own if you wish. 

Forms may be returned by fax, by backpack and by email.  Details are on the revised form.  They must reach the planners by Monday 14 November. 

Meetings, Feedback, Community Responses

The most immediately affected communities have meetings planned for early next week.  Eastview's is on Monday at 7:30, Pine Grove's on Tuesday at 7:00.   From these meetings will probably spring community recommendations.  With luck, the West Oakville community will agree on a preferred option, but this will take some work (Who said, "the harder I work, the luckier I get"?).

Your feedback will go directly to the planners, so the Pine Grove School Council and Accommodation Committee may not see it.  The planners will respect your privacy and, by default, will not share comments with anyone.  This is clearly stated on the forms.  So, if you wish your comments to influence our school council's recommendation, we'd need to receive a copy of page 1 of your form, too.  Keep a copy.  We'll work out the mechanics of this shortly, and keep you posted.

We hope to open up some sort of moderated online discussion forum for the West Oakville French Immersion community.  Until then, email Q&As will be post on this site.  The link for this will appear shortly.  

More to come ...

Join Canadian Parents for French!
Sunday 8 December 2002
By Dan Evangelista

For answers and support as your children discover French

Enrolling your child in a French-second-language (FSL) program is the first step on the road to bilingualism. However, at times, access to useful information and support pertaining to FSL issues can be difficult to come by. For answers and support as your children discover French, you may wish to consider joining Canadian Parents for French (CPF).

What Is CPF?

CPF was founded in 1977 by parents who wanted to ensure that children would have the opportunity to become bilingual in the Canadian school system. Originally a small group of concerned parents who met in Ottawa almost 25 years ago, CPF has evolved into a proactive national network with 9 Branch offices and some 170 Chapters in communities coast to coast.

What Does CPF Do?

Advocacy and Support for FSL Education. Both independently and through collaboration with line-minded organizations, CPF promotes quality FSL education at national and provincial/territorial levels. CPF works with teachers, principals, trustees and school boards to promote and improve FSL opportunities at the local level.

Culture. CPF seeks to raise awareness of the value of learning French as a second language by sponsoring cultural events in communities throughout Canada.

Member Services. As a grassroots organization, CPF prides itself on the service and value offered to its members. Acting as an information resource for parents, organizing community events and running summer camps, CPF services continue to expand to meet the needs of its members.

What Can CPF Offer You?

Your $25 membership brings you:

Information Resources for Parents

• CPF provides parents with information, materials and access to activities needed to support your child's FSL education.
• CPF members receive a complimentary copy of CPF's new 30-page booklet for members: Helping Your Child Become Bilingual: A Tool Kit for Parents
• CPF produces and distributes brochures and an annual report, The State of French-Second-Language Education in Canada.
• CPF publishes informative national and provincial/territorial newsletters for members.
• CPF operates national and provincial web sites that provide answers to frequently asked questions on FSL education.
• CPF is a source of the latest information and research on French-second-language education.

Access to CPF Events

• CPF Branches sponsor summer camps, special programs, contests and activities for French-second-language students across communities, provinces and territories.

Exclusive Deals and Discounts for CPF Members

• Discounts on CPF publications and resources as well as with companies like Grand and Toy and National Car Rental.

There are many reasons for joining CPF, however the most important reason is to ensure your child's education is the best possible. Please complete the membership form today and mail it to receive your Welcome Kit filled with tip and resources to help your child become bilingual.

CPF National: http://www.cpf.ca/
CPF Ontario Branch: http://www.cpfont.on.ca/

Portable Inspectors Needed!
Friday 4 October 2002

As part of the "Mould in Portable Classrooms" protocol developed in 1998, all portable classrooms in Halton are inspected on a bi-monthly basis by a third-party environmental contractor to the Board.  Schools may have a parent representative present for these inspections. If you are concerned about indoor air quality and about the environment up 10% of the children in West Oakville will be taught in, you can participate in these inspections.  For more information or to volunteer, please contact Don Vrooman (827-8221).