Changes were recently made to the Secondary 3 timetable at Massey-Vanier High School (MVHS) that consequently resulted in not offering the French Immersion program for the 2022-2023 school year. In a previous interview with CIDI 99.1 FM, chairman for the Eastern Townships School Board Michael Murray said that the decision came down to wanting to provide students with more options to help them pursue their interests and taking students out of their classroom bubbles. The decision, however, has left some parents feeling uneasy. 

“I have a daughter that just graduated from Secondary 5 at MVHS. (…) So, my elder daughter came back, I think it was probably towards the end of April, and she said to me there’s not going to be anymore French Immersion,” recounted Jessica Brown, member of the Brome Lake community and MVHS parent. “I said, ‘that’s impossible, they’re not going to take away a whole program.’ Then she clarified they were taking away Secondary 3 French Immersion.”

Brown said that her daughter provided her some reasoning after speaking to her teachers, but these reasons didn’t make sense to her. 

“So, I still kind of discounted it. (…) You don’t just wipe out a year of it when we’re going into a whole different situation even within the province (referring to Bill 96),” emphasized Brown. 

Thinking her daughter misunderstood, she brushed it off until she started hearing about it again in May. 

“I was told call the school. So, I called the school and Diane Vokey, who is the principal, a very kind lady, called me back at a very busy time and we had a very long discussion about,” explained Brown. “It’s not the first time I’ve had a discussion with her about French Immersion over the last few years because I always felt that it was a program that should have been further encouraged, further develop, because it offered Anglophones the opportunity to learn French in a more fluent way.”

Brown noted that when they spoke, the decision had already been made by the governing board. 

“I was told that we, as parents, would have known if our children were going into Secondary 3 because obviously it would have affected them directly,” she explained. “My child was going into Secondary 2, from another school. So, the only way I could have known was if I had gotten this leaflet I guess that was sent around in a publisac in January. I’m in a building where we don’t get a publisac. The other way, apparently, was they advised parents at an online open house on January 25th.”

Brown continued to explain that with two kids who graduated through MVHS in the past three years, she didn’t think it was necessary for her to attend. 

“I’ve spent a long time in that school. I didn’t there would be anything new for me to learn. It’s not like a new family coming into the school so we did not attend. I also didn’t hear anything from anybody else at any point that this was a happening,” she said. “I asked other parents too, parents with kids in the program now, and they said the same thing. They heard, like me, that there was something, but then they dismissed it. So, when we all really found out about it, it was beyond the point of changing anything.”

Taking full responsibility for not being more involved in the governing board, Brown also emphasized that she never anticipated a decision of that magnitude would be taken.

“I have to take responsibility for not having been involved. I give kudos to all the parents who do get involved and do do these things, but I think it’s a huge responsibility to be on the governing board. You’re making decision that affect a lot of kids,” noted Brown. “I still have such a hard time with the fact that nobody said anything, nobody stood up for that, and questioned it.”

Brown said that many schools have “bubble programs,” including the French side of MVHS, and that she “does not buy into the bubble problem.”

“I can’t figure that one out. Some kids have thrived off that bubble system, I know that my elder daughter loved it. (…) I get it, it must be really nice tog et out and do other things, but I just feel like it’s been a program that has been here this long and it’s been working,” said Brown. “A lot of kids loved it and did really well in it. I feel like it was a question of facilitating scheduling more than anything else.” 

Brown started a petition against the decision that has garnered over 140 signatures. 

“Which is not insignificant. I do feel like they should have rethought about when they saw the amount of support that was being generated. To me it showed that there was a huge lack of communication that happened with a decision of that magnitude,” mentioned Brown. 

The petition can be found on change.org 

Listen to the full interview below: