STOP the proposed changes to Kindergarten & EFI at OCDSB

Keep FI the way it is. It is too important to water it down

The OCDSB can do better and try harder to improve education for all. Parents have a right to choose the type of program that suits their child's needs. I say no to the proposed changes. Keep an English kindergarten option and 100% French instruction in grades 1-3.

My child is passing through the French Immersion program, We find that the program is absolutely successful and does not require any changes,

There is a lot of research that doesn't support this proposal and indicates the early and complete immersion is much more effective. On a very practical/economic note, when the board suggested the changes to the early French immersion program did they consider that they might find a large number of parents transferring their children into the French language school system? The monetary benefits they anticipate might not materialize because of the drop in student numbers. Once the children leave the English board to go to the French board, you've probably lot them for good.

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I put my kids in the EFI program in order to be exposed to the most french possible at the earliest age when they learn the easiest ...dont change it

English is so accessible but French is something that you must work for. Don't water it down!!

The Immersion program does not accommodate all learning styles and needs. The motto for OCDSB is supposed to be "Education for All".

OCDSB, please do not make these changes to the Kindergarten program. As parents, we need to be able to choose what is best for our children.

These changes are negating the immersion of the French immersion program. They are misguided.

The proposed changes are the wrong thing for both children in early French immersion, as well as for children like mine, who for a range of reasons, including one with a very serious speech disorder called apraxia (he is due to start JK in Sept 2016) must be in a Kindergarten English Program. He is by no means the only child who needs this program as it currently exists!

The proposed changes are not based on sound research on what is best for our children, and watering down the amount of French instructional time will reduce children's overall fluency in French.

This may be right for the bottom line, but it's not what's best for kids.

Our littlest learners need fewer teacher contacts, not more.

I believe Immersion is the best way for a child to learn a second language! In Ottawa, of all cities, it is beyond me how a board could reduce French instead of augment it.

In a December 2 update posted on the OCDSB Web site, the main reason the Board cites for proposing these changes is to address concerns about moving children in the middle of the two-year kindergarten program. It is difficult to understand how the Board sees this as sufficient justification for revising what appears to be a very successful EFI program – one that not only benefits the children in it, but which also has contributed to diversity of the entire Ottawa-Gatineau region. Trustees should reject the proposal, at least until staff can conduct better research and stronger consultation with parents and the public.

P.S. Even though iPetitions thinks I am from Toronto, based on my IP address, I am in fact in Ottawa (Hintonburg) and have a child in the OCDSB EFI program.

"partial immersion" sounds quite oxymoronic to me... Especially since, as I understand it, EFI was principally intended for families that do not speak French at home, so the school would provide the only immersive French context for the children. It hardly deserves the name anymore with these changes - Trustees!, vote against curtailing the French immersion program!

Please vote NO. Do not dilute the French in grades 1-3, it will NOT benefit our children in the long run. I don't want to be forced to switch my children to the French board to a less than ideal school just to make sure they have adequate French. Please reconsider!

I chose your board, because of the strength of its early French immersion program. I feel you are not keeping up your side of the bargain.