Cambridge Street Public School needs to find more students

Alayne McGregor

With the increased preference of parents for French immersion, a Centretown elementary school is losing students and could be in danger of closing – despite the fact more students are likely to move nearby in the next few years.

Cambridge Street Public School currently only has 55 students studying in-person and another 18 online, out of a capacity of 323. It has several split grade classes, including one with three grades. In its catchment area, 166 students are going to other schools.

Two other public elementary schools serving Centretown – Elgin Street and Devonshire – are at or over capacity. Centennial is at 75 percent capacity, and is a hub for special education. All three offer French immersion.

The difference: Cambridge only provides a single track English (with core French) program for Grades JK-6. In the Ottawa public school board (OCDSB), 72 percent of students are in French immersion, up from 40 percent in 1998.

The solution, says local OCDSB school trustee Justine Bell, is a dual track school, with both an English and a French immersion program. She points out that other Ottawa public schools offer both programs. Either early or middle French immersion are possibilities, she said, depending on what’s best for the community.

On March 22, Bell held an online community meeting about the future of the school, which attracted 51 participants.

Those 51 participants included local politicians, the school principal, and school board representatives. At the meeting, many parents said they lived close to the school and would move their children back there if it offered French immersion. They also asked for more opportunities at the school, including music, sports, and clubs.

Bell said she thought the voices of the community were heard at the meeting and noted that one parent, a new immigrant, wanted French immersion for his son: “I want the best for my child and I know here he must have French in order to have the best.”

More students are expected to move into the Cambridge PS area in the next seven years, with two major Ottawa Community Housing developments – Mosaïq and Gladstone Village – creating more than 1000 new homes, many specifically for families.

Currently, she said, Cambridge PS has primarily lower-income students because better-off families – including her own – are sending their children to other schools for French immersion. This means there’s no parent fundraising for school extras and less opportunities for clubs and sports. “In so many different ways we are further disadvantaging a disadvantaged population.”

Bell said board staff have told her that, because of other pressures, it would be nearly impossible to start French immersion at Cambridge next fall.

Normally a change like this requires a Pupil Accommodation Review examining multiple schools which might take years, she said. As well, the province has imposed a moratorium on these reviews. A review could be done on a one-off basis, she said, but that’s not as effective.

Bell said she was currently leaning towards requesting the public board conduct an emergency review of elementary schools serving Centretown, with any new programs to come into effect in September 2022.