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<h1 class="">Quality of bilingual education a deep concern for West Island dad</h1>
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<h3 class="">Father of 3 says problem continues even after principal, school board told him they rectified situation</h3>
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<span class=""><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/cbc-news-online-news-staff-list-1.1294364">CBC News</a></span>
<span class="">Posted: Oct 10, 2014 9:17 AM ET</span>
<span>Last Updated: Oct 10, 2014 10:00 AM ET</span>
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<img title="" alt="Some classes that are supposed to be taught in French are being taught in English instead in at least one Montreal-area high school." src="http://i.cbc.ca/1.1323866.1378968343%21/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/empty-classroom-feature.jpg" height="349" width="100%"> <p class="">
Some classes that are supposed to be taught in French are
being taught in English instead in at least one Montreal-area high
school. (Night Owl City) </p>
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<p><span>A high school ethics course that was supposed to be
taught in French but was actually instructed in English has one father
frustrated about the quality of his sons’ supposedly bilingual
education.</span></p>
<p><span>Martin Roloff told <em>CBC Daybreak</em> on Friday that he only discovered one of his sons had been taught in English after the fact.</span></p>
<p><span>His three sons go to Macdonald High School in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue.</span></p>
<blockquote class=""><span class="">'We are bound by collective agreements. We can’t just fire an English teacher and hire a French teacher.'</span><cite class="">- Suanne Stein Day, Lester B. Pearson School Board chair</cite></blockquote>
<p><span>A concerned Roloff voiced his disappointment to the school and
was told by school principal Jad Deegan that the situation had been
rectified.</span></p>
<p><span>Deegan said as much to <em>Daybreak </em>on Friday.</span></p>
<p><span>"That class was certainly predominantly done in English because
the teacher felt more comfortable in that language. It is the only
class that I’m aware of that that happened and we’ve rectified the
situation for this year," Deegan told host Mike Finnerty.</span></p>
<p><span>Except, according to Roloff, it hasn’t been fixed.</span></p>
<p><span>He said his youngest son is now being taught a French-language ethics class in English by a different teacher.</span></p>
<p><span>"The teacher came to my younger son in Grade 7 and said, 'Well,
I’m mostly teaching in English because I’m lacking the resource
material.' And then on curriculum night, he gave me the course outline
and explained, 'I have a language policy. I don’t want French to be an
impediment to their success in this course,'" Roloff recounted.</span></p>
<p><span>The father of three said the teacher told him every student
should get at least an 80 per cent grade for the course. Roloff said
that’s lowering educational standards.</span></p>
<p><span>He said there was a good reason he — like other parents who
want their children to thrive in Quebec — wanted his children to be
taught a French immersion curriculum, and the school is responsible to
provide a quality bilingual program.</span></p>
<h2><span>Budget constraints</span></h2>
<p><span>Suanne Stein Day, the head of the Lester B. Pearson School
Board, said she was not aware of the situation until she was copied on
an email Roloff sent.</span></p>
<p><span>"It’s a very serious concern because we are very committed to
French immersion, but we have budget constraints and staffing
constraints," Stein Day told <em>Daybreak</em>.</span></p>
<p><span>She said it’s not as simple as hiring more French teachers, though.</span></p>
<p><span>"We are bound by collective agreements. We can’t just fire an English teacher and hire a French teacher," she said.</span></p>
<p><span>What they do do, Stein Day said, is hire francophones to teach immersion programs when anglophone teachers retire.</span></p>
<p><span>Stein Day said parents should have been informed about the
language switch and the students’ transcripts should have been corrected
to reflect that the course was taught in English.</span></p><p><span><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quality-of-bilingual-education-a-deep-concern-for-west-island-dad-1.2794861">http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quality-of-bilingual-education-a-deep-concern-for-west-island-dad-1.2794861</a><br></span></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************
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