Advertisement from the French Catholic board on a billboard near Windsor Airport. (Photo courtesy Alan Halberstadt)Advertisement from the French Catholic board on a billboard near Windsor Airport. (Photo courtesy Alan Halberstadt)
Windsor

Public Board Defends French Attack

Public school board trustees are fending off what they call an attack on their french immersion program by a competing board.

The French Catholic board displayed a billboard near Windsor airport, which has since been changed, that said "education in a French language Catholic school ensures sustainable bilingualism."

Vice Chair Alan Halberstadt is sending a letter voicing the board's displeasure with the message from the Conseil scolaire catholique Providence. "It's sort of a backhand at us that our French immersion is not sustainable for students that attend French immersion," says Halberstadt.

He says it's inappropriate for a board to spend taxpayer dollars on advertisements that target other boards. "How ethical is that? How appropriate is that," asks Halberstadt. "You've got four school boards. We should only have one publicly-funded school system in Ontario, especially with all the financial issues that we have -- we're closing schools."

Halberstadt is also asking the minister of education to provide guidelines on appropriate and ethical spending for school board advertising.

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