Pearson hears parents out

The Chronicle, Raffy Boudjikanian

About sixty parents showed up a lively evening discussion at Macdonald High School focusing on Lester B. Pearson school board’s French-language, special needs and magnet school progams. (Chronicle, Éric Carrière) Teaching French at English schools, tending to children with special needs and the magnet school program were the three main topics discussed by a group of about 60 parents and Lester B. Pearson officials at a “town hall”-style meeting held yesterday night at Ste. Anne de Bellevue’s Macdonald High School. “It’s quite difficult to meet every child’s needs,” said Karen Jones, a Grade 7-8 teacher at Macdonald High School, adding it is “ridiculous” to expect teachers and parents to be able to do so, as she garnered applause from several sitting in the audience around her. Of the three issues discussed during the evening, opinions seemed to differ most sharply on the school board’s inclusion policy for children with special needs.

[…] However, one parent who did not reveal his name when speaking pointed to a recent Quebec Community Groups Network study that revealed many anglophone youth in the province want to learn more French. The network, a non-profit organization that advocates English minority rights across the province, surveyed 400 English-speaking youth in different anglophone communities and found they were looking to learn more French, he said. Read more…