Yellowknife (Feb 18/05) - Public school parents may be able to enrol their kids in French immersion as early as kindergarten by the fall of 2005.

The board of Yellowknife Education District No. 1 will vote on a motion about early immersion at a special meeting Feb. 21.

The district is rushing to pass the motion to meet the beginning of kindergarten enrolment, which starts Feb. 22 at Mildred Hall school.

"We need to let parents know what direction we're heading so they can make a choice in the registration of their children," said Reanna Erasmus, chairperson of the board.

French immersion currently starts in Grade 4 across the district. Offering it in the younger grades was an option that emerged from a review of French programs in the fall of 2004.

The board chose five options to increase French proficiency and enrolment, raising the ire of many parents who were caught off guard by the possibility of J.H. Sissons school becoming strictly French Immersion.

The board extended public consultations in response to parents' and teachers' concerns about the changes.

Wendy Lee and Ken Huss have followed the issue for the last month and a half, attending meetings and filling in surveys. Parents of a Grade 2 student and a child entering kindergarten in the fall, they say they aren't opposed to changes to French programs, only to a single-track French school.

Both admit to being concerned about changes that may follow this first motion.

"We're not worried about French immersion, we're worried about English kindergarten," said Lee this week.

They are exploring their options for enroling their child in kindergarten next year, even looking at the Catholic school system as an alternative.

Only motion on the floor

"This will be the only motion on the floor," assured Erasmus. "We're still consulting in regards to middle immersion and late immersion," she said this week.

Parents and teachers have until today to hand in response booklets asking them their opinions about French programming at Yk No. 1.

"We'll be looking at the responses we get before we move ahead," said Erasmus, adding that the booklets will be the last phase of parent/teacher consultations that have gone on since January.