The Kootenay Lake school district is hoping to meet with upwards of 90 parents who want to enroll their children in the Grade 6 French immersion program at Trafalgar Middle School next fall.
The program is normally open to 60 students, but some parents have pushed for the district to add a third French class for the unusually high number of applicants on the waiting list.
SD8 superintendent Jeff Jones says the meeting, which takes place Tuesday evening at Trafalgar, will be used to “seek creative solutions” to the issue and explain the ongoing drama to parents.
“Through this whole challenge I have been concerned about conflicting information, rumours, innuendos, emails that said one thing but were read another way,” he told the SD8 board Tuesday.
“This meeting is meant to address that.”
Jones says the meeting won’t be about asking parents to select the students eligible for French immersion, and he won’t make a final decision on the program before it’s held.
“I’m committed to not making a final decision until after that meeting,” he says. “I want you to know although I’m challenged in making that decision, I haven’t made a decision yet.”
Senior SD8 staff have suggested adding a third class would create financial problems for the district in later years, due to the program’s traditionally high attrition rates in Grades 7 and 8.