I am a Rockwood parent with two children currently enrolled in the French Immersion program at Edward Johnson PS in Guelph. I am part of a group of parents from the Rockwood, Eden Mills and Guelph/Eramosa township area that is devastated by the proposed boundary change that would send our children to school in Erin.
As parents, it was tough to decide on the program in which to enroll our children. Deciding in favour of French Immersion was just part of the big picture. Our lives are oriented to Guelph and my children have grandparents living southwest of Guelph, so Edward Johnson seemed to be the right choice for us.
Although we now love the program and the children seem to be thriving in it, it is not everything to us. It was French Immersion in Guelph that was our priority, not French Immersion (wherever it might take us). We know Rockwood parents that work in west Guelph and Kitchener. It is unimaginable that they should have to drive over an hour to pick up their children.
Supposing you lived in Guelph and a boundary change was proposed that would send your children to Hamilton. Would you, no matter how much you loved the French Immersion program, send your children that far?
Eden Mills is 38 minutes (29 kilometres) from Erin. It is 19 minutes (11.9 km) from Edward Johnson Public School. If we travelled south 38 minutes from Grange Road in Guelph, we would be in Waterdown, Hamilton.
We are not raising commuter children, with them spending over two hours a day on the bus driving a route that is known to be hazardous in winter driving conditions.
If this proposed change is made, it will be a real loss to the village of Rockwood and surrounding areas. We have parents in our group that will move if this happens. Making immersion available only in Erin makes the community less appealing to families shopping for homes in the area. It will put greater pressure on Rockwood Centennial PS, which is already at 126 per cent capacity (even more over-capacity than Edward Johnson).
On a personal level, if this proposal is approved on Jan. 24, my husband and I will have to make the heartbreaking decision to pull our children out of French Immersion.  We love the program, but will not put it above the social and psychological well- being of our children.
Rachel McClelland
Rockwood