The debate continues

back and forth in the media, with a steady and growing groundswell of opinion against Kelly Lamrock’s desperate circling of the wagons. Well, the wagon. It’s increasingly clear that there is only one.

And that it’s wheels are loose.

If you haven’t already,

you might want to read an excellent commentary from Daylene Lumis, “Discuss education and immersion issues fully.” Also worth reading: letters from C. MacCallum, Sue Park, and Lila Johnson from a couple of days back about her eye-opening conversation with her MLA.

From the Fredericton demonstration:

Despite

Kelly Lamrock’s reported comment that concern about FSL is confined to “yuppies” in Fredericton and Moncton, people in the Mirimichi seem interested, if the slew of articles in the Mirimichi Leader is any indication, including Patricia Lee wading in and the Minister’s multi-part series. See in particular Alison Ménard’s excellent open letter and Raissa Marks’ guest editorial which concludes, “I leave you with one more question, Mr. Premier. Are you prepared to lose the next election on this issue?”

Letter to the Premier

for “Write the Premier Week” (Facebook):

Here is

a letter I sent to the paper last night:

The elimination of early immersion is perhaps the most dramatic of Minister Kelly Lamrock’s proposed changes to education in N.B., but make no mistake: the Minister’s plan would affect all children in public schools in this province, not just those denied early immersion. Six months from now, all students currently in grade four Core French, regardless of their individual circumstances, interests, or challenges, would be compelled to take Intensive French for half the year in grade five. Afterwards, students would make the one and only choice that would be offered to them throughout their whole K–12 experience: do they want to go into late immersion, or continue with the new post-Intensive French programme? This decision would be binding, unlike now.

The Minister has taken to characterizing his opponents as “elitist.” Even if he were correct — and he is not as the “streaming” he cites is the result of chronic underfunding, not immersion — children denied early immersion would not be the only ones affected by this plan. ALL New Brunswick children would be affected. The ones currently in early immersion would not be “safe”: they would stumble through a diminished and dying programme. Many qualified teachers would leave the province, and who would then teach the new intensive programme? Students with challenges would be without resources. Since Intensive French focuses on language use, not content, students would only cover half the curriculum usually covered in grade five. When would they catch up? And the “streaming” that suddenly concerns the Minister would still continue in grade six, unchanged.

ALL New Brunswick children would be affected by this rushed, cobbled-together plan. They would ALL bear the brunt of a system-wide upheaval. And so ALL of us must call on Premier Graham to listen to the Ombudsman and postpone the Minister’s plan for at least a year. Maybe Minister Lamrock does know better than everyone else; he seems to think so. But are we willing to risk the education of our children? ALL our children?

Surely the answer, from ALL of us, has to be NO.

Letter from Jane Keith to Liberal MLAs

Jane Keith sent the following powerful letter to Liberal MLAs, not in her capacity as an employee of CPF, but as a private citizen:

Dear Liberal MLA’s,

When is this going to stop? I have voted Liberal since I was 18 years old, but I don’t know if I will ever be able to again. I have been a dedicated Liberal all of my life, hearing discussions about Louis Robichaud’s forward thinking and inclusive education and health care policies at my parents dinner table as a child, voting for Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Frank McKenna in the past, and Shawn Graham in the last election.

I rejoiced as a parent when the Liberal government implemented French second language education policy 309 in 1994 under Education Minister Bernard Richard. Finally, parents and students had protection from anti-immersion school district Superintendents and principals who made their views plainly known that they didn’t think French Immersion was worth the money the government was spending on it.

My grandfather came to New Brunswick from Ireland, and he was a Protestant Orangeman who hated Catholics and therefore the French because in his mind they were mostly Catholic and therefore the enemy. Because of Early French Immerison my own children are open minded and have a truly genuine love for the French language, people, and culture. Some of their best teachers were francophones and they brought the French language and culture into our anglophone home with the enthusiasm that only young children can have. I learned more about Acadians from them than I ever did from my own history classes. And I watched them proudly approach francophone children and strike up conversations in French in Shippegan, Cape Pelé, the Acadian Village, and across New Brunswick and Canada, when we travelled on vacation with them. They were so proud in Quebec when they had to help their two anglophone parents buy gas, order meals in restaurants, and book rooms in hotels. This all before they were 10 years old.

Letter from Lisa Weir to Bernard Richard, Ombudsman:

 March 25/08

Good day Mr. Richard,

I am writing to you because in your role as an advocate for youth in this province, I feel it is pertinent to express my concerns regarding the implementation of the Intensive French program. I would like to begin by stating that I am against this decision. I am against it because I believe it is wrong for a government to remove choice from citizens under just about any possible circumstance. I am against it most wholeheartedly, however, because of how this program will affect my daughter and no doubt, many others who are in a similar situation.

Letter from Lisa Weir to Stephane Dion:

March 24/08

Hello Mr. Dion,

I am a life-long resident of NB and usually an ardent supporter of the Liberal party. I am gravely concerned, however, with what the Liberal party of NB is doing to damage what Liberals overall in Canada. Today I write to you because my main concern is the recent decision by the Graham government to remove the choice of which language our children are educated in, something I have believed to be protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I guess I was wrong about that fact, though, after all these years.

The following press release

was sent out today from the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages for New Brunswick. Bottom line: we should all contact the Office of the Ombudsman:

For immediate release:

Fredericton, March 20, 2008 – The Official Languages Act of New Brunswick states that it does not apply to the Department of Education. This in fact limits the power of the Commissioner of Official Languages to investigate complaints with respect to the operation of the education system. The Act, however, does provide him with the authority and the responsibility to promote the advancement of both official languages. It is based on this part of his mandate that Commissioner Michel Carrier became involved with FSL reform in the province, beginning with his own review, the details of which were included in his 2005-2006 annual report.

Letter from parents of a Kindergartener

Dear Mr. Kershaw:

We are writing to you as parents of a child enrolled in grade one in the Early French Immersion program at Loch Lomond Elementary School in Saint John for September 2008.  We were requested by the school and district to have our registration in by a certain date which with we complied.  At no time was it ever communicated to us by the school or district that that the availability of this program was going to be in question.  This registration was a contract duly signed and entered into and we expect the contract to be fulfilled.

Kindergarteners enrolled for grade one in September 2008 at the time this decision was forced on New Brunswick should be grandfathered into the program.

We await your action in this matter before joining force with other kindergartener parents in exploring our legal options.

Respectfully,

Paula and Raymond Small