Background

Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) is in year two of a three-year public engagement initiative to enhance programming offered throughout the Division. One of the programs EIPS is looking at is French Immersion. Specifically, exploring ways to enhance programming, address enrolment pressures and increase retention at the junior high and senior high levels.

A Brief History of EIPS’ French Immersion Program
EIPS offers a kindergarten to Grade 12 French Immersion program to students throughout the Division. The program aims to prepare functionally bilingual students—giving them excellent English skills and the ability to speak and write comfortably in French. Through EIPS French Immersion, students complete the regular Alberta Education curriculum—language learning, mathematics, science, social studies, physical education, music, health and art—in French and regular English language arts courses.

As background, EIPS has offered French Immersion programming since forming in 1995. For most of its history, programming was offered at Ardrossan Elementary, Ardrossan Junior Senior High, École Campbelltown, École Parc Élémentaire and Sherwood Heights Junior High. Before EIPS was established, there was a brief period, when senior high French was offered at Bev Facey Community High, run by the Strathcona Education Board.

A sixth school was added in 2020, Heritage Hills Elementary. As background, École Campbelltown was facing considerable enrolment pressures in early 2019. The Division was worried it wouldn’t be able to accommodate all students wanting to enrol in French Immersion. So, the EIPS Board of Trustees conducted a review looking at possible solutions to ensure long-term program access. Through the review, it determined Heritage Hills Elementary—a new school still under construction at the time—could accommodate dual-track programming, regular English and French Immersion programming, with space available for two classes per grade in each program.

So, in 2020, Sherwood Park’s elementary French Immersion attendance boundaries changed. Students living east of Clover Bar Road were redesignated to Heritage Hills Elementary, and students residing west of Clover Bar Road were redesignated to École Campbelltown. Adding the second Sherwood Park-based elementary allows EIPS to grow French Immersion and accommodate all students living in Sherwood Park wanting to access the program.

Fast forward three years, Heritage Hills Elementary French Immersion program is currently undersubscribed, operating only one French Immersion class for each grade of kindergarten to Grade 3, one Grade 4-5 split class and one Grade 5-6 split class. Ideally, the Division wants more balanced enrolment in the elementary French Immersion program.

Current Situation
In 2021-22, EIPS identified three new areas of concern for French Immersion long-term planning. The first: program retention at the secondary level. Fewer students are deciding to stay in the program at the junior high and senior high levels. For example, as of Sept. 29, 2022, EIPS has 129 Grade 6 students enrolled in French Immersion. But, in Grade 9, there are only 85 students enrolled in French Immersion. And, in Grade 12, only 37 students are enrolled. Based on historic trends, the two grades with the lowest retention rates are Grade 7, 86 per cent, and Grade 10, 69 per cent. Such a significant drop in students at the senior high level makes providing robust programming challenging.

The second concern is anticipated enrolment pressures in Ardrossan. With several new residential developments underway, the Division expects significant enrolment pressures at schools in Ardrossan in the coming years. EIPS can manage Ardrossan Elementary’s enrolment pressures through modular classroom planning. However, that approach for Ardrossan Junior Senior High is not sustainable because it doesn’t address the first area of concern, program retention. So, EIPS needs to determine an alternative solution to address the pending growth and accommodate students attending the junior-senior high.

Finally, the third concern is the new Cambrian Crossing development underway in Strathcona County. It’s made up of two neighbourhoods, Cambrian and Hearthstone—both being constructed simultaneously. The first phase of residents should move in, starting in fall 2023. Both neighbourhoods do have a planned school site. However, obtaining provincial funding approval and new school construction is years away. As such, EIPS also needs to determine how best to accommodate French Immersion students from these areas using existing infrastructure until new schools are approved and built.

Engagement Effort

Before making any decisions about French Immersion programming, EIPS is undertaking significant public engagement efforts with the school community—families, students and community members—to ensure a solution that’s in the best interest of all students. EIPS administration has developed a public engagement strategy to seek feedback from the French Immersion school community about programming and possible solutions. Already, it’s conducted the first two phases of the engagement. Each phase included a public meeting and an online survey.

Phase 1 was designed to exchange ideas with and determine the values of EIPS French Immersion families. Phase 2 involved informing the community of EIPS’ concerns and collecting feedback to develop a potential solution. Six key themes developed.

1. A desire for robust French Immersion programming, including:
   • course options,
   • French cultural experiences,
   • extracurricular activities, and
   • high-quality, French-speaking teachers.
2. A desire for a school site close to where students live.
3. A desire for the least amount of school transitions as possible.
4. A desire for more academic supports for students and families in French Immersion,
5. A desire for EIPS to develop a clear vision for the French Immersion program,
6. A desire for EIPS to develop possible solutions for the school community to engage about.

Based on the feedback collected from Phases 1 and 2, EIPS developed a vision for the French Immersion program and guiding principles that align with the key themes identified during the first two phases. The Division also developed a potential solution, which it presented at the third public engagement—Phase 3: Part 1. A key theme that emerged from the Phase 3: Part 1 engagement was a general dissatisfaction with the one potential solution put forward for French Immersion secondary programming.  

EIPS listened and developed additional options for the French Immersion secondary program. The added options were shared with the EIPS community through video explanations embedded in a survey—open to all EIPS French Immersion families and staff, and EIPS families with students in the regular English program who live within Strathcona County. The reason it expanded to all EIPS families living in Strathcona County is because some of the French Immersion secondary programming options have potential impacts on the Division’s regular English program within the county. It’s important to note, even though the Board is reviewing French Immersion programming, it has no predetermined outcome in mind.  

Public Engagement Summary: To date 

Phase 1 
Communications: October 12 to Nov. 14, 2022 
Tactics and mechanisms: Emails to stakeholders (families and staff), website updates, Twitter and Facebook posts 

Public Meeting No. 1: October 26, 2022 
EIPS French Immersion School Community: 46 in attendance 
At the meeting, EIPS reviewed the results of a 2017-18 French Immersion survey and collected feedback from attendees about the French Immersion program, their values, and long-term needs. The Division used the feedback to help inform next steps and determine if the 2017-18 survey themes were still valid—overall, they are.   

Online Survey No. 1: October 27 to November 14, 2022 
EIPS French Immersion School Community: 279 responses 
Following the meeting, the Division conducted an online survey after the public meeting to gather even more feedback. The survey ran from October 27 to November 14. The questions were similar to those questions asked at the in-person public meeting. The Division used the feedback to help inform next steps and determine if the 2017-18 survey themes were still valid—overall, they are. 

Phase 2 
Communications: January 25 to February 21, 2023 
Tactics and mechanisms: Emails to stakeholders (families and staff), website updates, Twitter, and Facebook posts 

Public Meeting No. 2: February 7, 2023 
EIPS French Immersion School Community: 20 in attendance 
At the public meeting, EIPS shared background information, what was heard during Phase 1, and its concerns about the French Immersion program. It then collected input on four key questions—what are their concerns? what should the Board consider? what are the barriers to continuing with French Immersion? and what are possible solutions? The Division used the feedback to help inform next steps and determine a possible solution. 

Online Survey No. 2: February 8-21, 2023 
EIPS French Immersion School Community: 280 responses 
Following the second public meeting, the Division conducted an online survey to gather further input from the French Immersion school community about their concerns, what EIPS should consider, possible barriers and solutions. The Division used the feedback to help inform next steps and determine a possible solution. 

Phase 3: Part 1 
Communications: March 23 to April 24, 2023 
Tactics and mechanisms: Emails to stakeholders (families and staff), website updates, Twitter and Facebook posts

Public Meeting No. 3: April 13, 2023 
EIPS French Immersion School Community: 98 in attendance 
At the public meeting, EIPS shared background information, what was heard during Phase 2, the program’s vision and guiding principles and a proposed potential solution. Participants then broke into four groups and discussed the potential solution in detail—its strengths, challenges, ways to make it better and alternative solutions. The Division will use the feedback to help inform next steps and further develop a solution. 

Online Survey No. 3: April 14-24, 2023 
EIPS French Immersion School Community: 712 responses 
Following the third public meeting, the Division conducted an online survey to gather further input from the French Immersion school community about the proposed potential solution—its strengths, challenges, ways to make it better and alternative solutions. The Division will use the feedback to help inform next steps and further develop a solution.   

Email Submissions: April 14-27, 2023 
EIPS French Immersion School Community: 8 responses  

Phase 3: Part 2 
Communications: June 13 to July 14, 2023 
Tactics and mechanisms: Emails to stakeholders (families and staff), website updates, Twitter and Facebook posts 

Online Survey No. 4: June 13 to July 14, 2023 
EIPS French Immersion School Community and Sherwood Park EIPS Families: 1,066 responses with 511 respondents completing all the questions.
The Division conducted an online survey with video explainers to gather input from all EIPS stakeholders about three proposed potential options—their strengths, challenges, ways to make it better and alternative solutions. The Division will use the feedback to help inform the next steps and further develop a solution. 

Phase 4: The decision process

After consulting about the possible options, in October 2023, EIPS developed an initial recommendation report for the Board to review regarding EIPS’ secondary French Immersion program. At that time, EIPS administration felt the recommendation was the best solution to address enrolment pressures in Ardrossan and improve secondary French Immersion retention. The recommendation: To relocate EIPS’ secondary French Immersion program, grades 7-12, to Bev Facey Community High; and relocate or establish additional programming for grades 7-9 at Bev Facey Community High.

Given the information at the time, the recommendation made the most sense as it addressed growth and retention concerns, supported the French Immersion vision and guiding principles, was financially sustainable, best aligned with the feedback heard and allowed for robust French Immersion programming.

However, shortly after sharing the recommendation, the Superintendent became privy to new information:

• Staff at Bev Facey brought forward new concerns about the unintended consequences of a grade reconfiguration at the school. Namely, the negative impacts on career and technology studies; the school’s catchment area being too small; and overall student retention at Bev Facey. While the school had the space, staff were concerned about integrating a junior high into an already established senior high program.
• School families also echoed their concerns—expressing reservations about combining junior high students with senior high students.
• EIPS administration learned that while modular classrooms could not address the current expected enrolment growth at Ardrossan Junior Senior High, an option not explored by the previous administration was if modulars could be a solution if the French Immersion program at Ardrossan Junior Senior High was reconfigured for just grades 7-9.

With the promise to always make decisions in the best interest of students, the Superintendent asked the Board to allow more time to systematically explore if there was a better solution. The Board agreed and approved tabling the initial recommendation to allow EIPS administration time to ensure the best possible solution.

To develop a solution, administration took a system-wide approach. It revisited stakeholder feedback from the French Immersion engagement and the Sherwood Park value scoping session. It also explored all available background information, trends, facts and figures. It considered the culture and history of both senior high schools in Sherwood Park. It conducted detailed enrolment projections, reassessed attendance boundaries and reviewed available infrastructure. It also conducted working-group meetings with principals and staff. Through this collective effort, administration developed a solution that best addresses EIPS’ secondary French Immersion program, grades 7-12, and senior high enrolment concerns in Sherwood Park., which it presented to the Board of Trustees at a regularly scheduled Board meeting on Jan. 25, 2024.