English education pokes fun
The Sir Wilfred Laurier School Board campaigns for students
Since 2006, the Sir Wilfred Laurier School Board (SWLSB) has been campaigning to inform francophone parents of their child's ability to be taught in an English public school with the slogan Moi, j'apprends in English.
However, last week a daily newspaper in Montreal caused a fuss by stating that the SWLSB was using its phone line to inform parents wishing to know more on the topic.
"It's not a hotline it's simply a 1-800 number where parents can reach us to know more about the admissibility of their children," said Maxeen Jolin, communications coordinator with the SWLSB. Even though the most simple case of a child's admissibility is when both parents have attended an English school, other cases are more complex. "Since the territory we cover is so large, this phone line allows people to reach us easily in order to find out if their child can enroll with us. It allows us to treat the calls case by case," said Ms. Jolin.
Parents calling the 1-800 line can also be informed by a SWLSB employee that expert in the admissibility criteria of the Charte de la langue française.
The SWLSB covers the territory of Laval, the Laurentians and Launaudière. The publicity campaign, started in 2006, was initially only carried out by passing fliers out in two francophone schools in the Laurentians. "We received a lot of positive feedback and we decided to go ahead and place announcements in newspapers for inscriptions within our entire territory," she said. Jolin added that the primary goal of this campaign is to inform people about the dates of the inscription period.
Working around the law?
What is most unsettling to people about this campaign to some is whether the SWLSB is breaking Bill 104. A student cannot be admitted to an English public school after having attended an English private school for one year.
"There are no holes in the law and we aren't trying to work around it," said Jolin. The SWLSB has refused to engage the Supreme Court battle currently going on with nine members of the Quebec English School Boards Association as they attempt to work around the law in this manner.
The Commission scolaire de Laval (CSDL) said the publicity campaign has had no effect on their enrollment. "It's QESBA that promotes this kind of publicity, not only the SWLSB," said the president of CSDL, Francine Charbonneau.
She said drew a distinction by saying that she did not believe the SWLSB campaign was meant to steal their students. "Many English school boards are suffering from low enrollment, but this is not the case for the SWLSB, they are lacking space," she said.
A catchy slogan
With a formula like Moi, j'apprends in English the SWLSB knew they would turn heads. "In the newspaper we only have a quarter page, we needed something that would grab attention," said Jolin. She said that the SWLSB waited for the go-ahead from the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) before printing the slogan. "I'm not saying that the OQLF jumped for joy at the idea of our slogan, but we still got their O.K." she said.
Francine Charbonneau emphasized that there has never been a debate over Bill 101 in Laval. "The message has always been very clear that everything needs to be in French," said Charbonneau.
The media coverage of the SWLSB campaign has in fact upped enrollment requests and calls for information. "What we want is for people to know about our schools. Certain parents and regions don't know that Anglophone schools exist near them," said Jolin. She said that an ongoing increase in enrollment is expected in SWLSB schools until 2017.
PHOTO DIGITALES: Photos.com 30715820
Météo: Laval, 6 juillet 2008 / 25°C
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Steven Guilbeault - 
