By Tom Mark

Vernon School Board Acclaims Chair/Sees French Immersion Growth

Sep 28, 2017 | 11:41 AM

The Vernon School Board met for the first time this fall Wednesday evening.

Board Chair Kelly Smith was acclaimed as chair and Mitzi Fortin was elected Vice Chair.

Smith says trustees are looking at a review on policy and regulations related to the registration process for french immersion, including a sibling rule.

“That means if your child is in the program a sibling may get preferential placement when they register.”

The board will make a decision on that later.

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Smith also says french immersion enrolment increased this year.

That led to a round table discussion at the school board’s first meeting of the new school year Wednesday evening.

“We had more kindergarten kids registering so we added on a fifth kindergarten class. But when we look at the numbers for next year that seems to be an anomaly, but we’ll certainly keep a close eye on that.”

What led to the increase isn’t clear.

“It’s a certain portion of our kindergarten group, so if the kindergarten group is bigger there might be a larger group of parents who want their kids in french immersion.”

Kelly Smith says the increase is likely due to a combination of children reaching kindergarten age and greater interest in french immersion.

by Tom Mark