Elk Island Public Schools’ (EIPS) administration is pleased to share its new recommendation about the secondary French Immersion program—being presented to the EIPS Board of Trustees on Jan. 25, 2024. The recommendation also includes a solution to balance the English senior high enrolment in Sherwood Park. The reason for both is that the two are inherently connected—to effectively solve one issue, the Division also needs to solve the other.
Throughout the last year, EIPS has put significant work into finding a solution for its secondary French Immersion program—exploring how best to enhance secondary-level retention and address the anticipated enrolment pressures in Ardrossan. Year-long, EIPS consulted school families, staff and community stakeholders through public meetings, surveys and other feedback opportunities about their needs, values, concerns and ideas on possible options. The feedback helped the Division develop both a vision for EIPS French Immersion and a recommendation report.
The version going forward is different from the original recommendation, which was tabled in the fall to allow the Division more time to explore if there were other viable options. As you’ll recall, new information became available shortly after posting the initial recommendation online. Given Superintendent Sandra Stoddard's commitment to ensuring all decisions be made in the best interest of students, she requested the Board allow her more time to ensure the best path forward. Taking a system-wide approach, EIPS administration believes the newly revised recommendation serves students best—more detailed information is provided in the Recommendation Report and the Superintendent’s Message, linked below.
Currently, the Board is reviewing the recommendation report, which was also posted publicly earlier this afternoon. Trustees will spend the next few days combing through the report and then discuss it in detail at the next public Board meeting on Jan. 25, 2024—the meeting starts at 10 a.m., which is open to the public and livestreamed on EIPS’ YouTube channel. At that point, the Board will debate the recommendation and vote to approve, amend or not approve the recommendation. Ultimately, whatever direction the Board takes, it will be in the best interests of all EIPS students.
In the meantime, EIPS encourages everyone to review the new recommendation report, a video from Superintendent Sandra Stoddard explaining the recommendation and rationale behind it, and accompanying background information. For ease of access, each is linked below. The information is also available at eips.ca.
- Recommendation Report: Secondary French Immersion and senior high enrolment
- Superintendent’s Message: A recommendation for the secondary French Immersion program and balancing senior high in Sherwood Park (time: 10 minutes)
- EIPS Engagement: French Immersion programming
NOTE: Any changes to EIPS secondary French Immersion and senior high boundaries will take effect when the new Sherwood Park replacement school opens. So, at the earliest, in the 2026-27 school year.
After the January Board meeting, EIPS will email all impacted families to let them know what the Board decides. At that time, the Division will also collect questions from staff and families to develop a frequently asked questions (FAQ) document. If you have a question, simply fill out and submit the EIPS French Immersion: Question Form. EIPS will work through your questions and include the answers in the FAQ document.
Again, thank you to everyone who participated in the French Immersion public engagement. Both EIPS administration and the Board appreciate the time and thought put into the feedback provided throughout the consultation. EIPS will continue to keep the school community informed about the process as information becomes available. For more information, or to subscribe for updates, visit eips.ca.