Consul General hopes to open French high school to continue language education
16th February 2015 · 0 Comments
By Kari Dequine Harden
Contributing Writer
With increasing interest in French immersion education in New Orleans, there are currently no opportunities for students to continue at a high school level.
Grégor Trumel, the Consul General of France in New Orleans, hopes to see that change in coming years.
New Orleans possesses unique opportunities, Trumel said, in that nationwide, a French immersion education is often only offered in a private school setting for a hefty price tag. Raymond Hinz, Education Attaché for the Consulate, called the tuition-free public opportunities a “treasure.”
While at present demand outweighs capacity, there are two public charter schools that offer French immersion curriculums (French Baccalaureate) accredited by the French Ministry of Education: Audubon Charter School and Lycée Francais De La Nouvelle Orleans (Lycée).
Audubon offers a French track in addition to its Montessori track, both through the 8th grade. Lycée offers the French program through the 4th grade, with plans to add a grade level each year until the 12th grade.
Including other schools that offer French programs, though not all with the French Baccalaureate track, there are about 1,700 students participating in New Orleans.
Audubon and Lycée are both open enrollment schools and anyone in the city can apply, but past the pre-K and Kindergarten level, incoming students must demonstrate a grade-level proficiency with the French language.
Keith Bartlett, principal at Lycée, said that as of Feb. 2, they have 536 applicants for fewer than 200 spots.
A (tuition-free) public French immersion high school would be truly unique, and an asset, Trumel said. And the hope is to see one well before Lycée builds its 12th grade in 2022.
Trumel and Hinz tout the strong French roots in Louisiana. Trumel noted that the New Orleans has the oldest Consulate General of France in the U.S. – created in 1803, just after the Louisiana Purchase.
But it’s not just about honoring the past – Trumel and Hinz describe the prominence of the French language in the globalized world, and the desire to see New Orleans increase its distinction as an international city. French is a top language when it comes to international politics and diplomacy, they note. “There’s a strategic need for the U.S. to get more bilingual,” Trumel said.
French is the official language of 29 countries, and it’s a language projected to grow significantly in the number of speakers worldwide, they said. They also described the increased incentive for people looking to relocate to New Orleans.
“It’s not just about culture and history,” Trumel said. “It’s a real economic asset.”
A major role the Consulate has played in education is in the recruitment of French teachers. Now Trumel and Hinz plan to spend coming months working proactively with state, district, school and community leaders to facilitate the creation of a high school. They will not be creating the high school, Trumel notes, but will do whatever they can to provide support through expertise, resources, training, and facilitating communication and collaboration.
Asked about the French public schools’ student population relative to the city’s and the public school demographics, Trumel’s perspective on the concept of “demographics” and “diversity” comes from an entirely different cultural prism. In France, it is illegal to collect data based on race or ethnicity. The basis is that classifying people by race increases discrimination, and goes against the secular nation’s belief that all citizens be free of distinction of race, class or religion.
The added European element of a French education brings diversity in itself, noted Hinz. And because there are public school options, a French immersion education is more accessible in economic terms than in many other U.S. cities where the only option is private school.
Access to all is very important, Trumel said.
“We are proud to [be] one of the only free French schools,” Bartlett said of Lycée.
But the U.S. loves – perhaps even obsesses over—its racial breakdowns, and one only needs to open a Parents’ Guide to Public Schools to find the racial makeup of the student body at any public school.
At Lycée, 20 percent of the students identify as African American. Latino students make up 13.7 percent of the school’s student body.
According to a 2010 report from the Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives, 89 percent of public school students in New Orleans are African-American. The report identified six percent of public school students as white. According to The Data Center, in 2013, African Americans made up 59.1 percent of the total population New Orleans.
According to a 2014 Cowen report, 84 percent of public schools enrolled for the 2013-2014 school year are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The report also found that the percentage of students in poverty in New Orleans has increased by nine percent from the 2004-2005 school year.
Audubon does not list the Montessori and French program student populations separately. Combined, Audubon’s students are 45.3 percent African American.
Bartlett said that part of Lycée’s charter is to have a student body composed of at least 67 percent “at-risk” students.
State law defines “at-risk” as a student meeting one of six criteria: 1. Eligible for free or reduced-lunch program; 2. Under the age of 20 and has been withdrawn from a school prior to graduation; 3. Under 20 and failed to achieve score required on graduation exit exam; 4. Is in eighth grade or below and is reading two or more grade levels below grade level; 5. Has been identified as an exceptional child, excluding gifted and talented; 6. Is the mother or father of a child.
Lycée, which started four years ago, currently has an at-risk population of 45 percent, Bartlett said, up 14 points from last year.
Bartlett described a number of outreach efforts to continue toward their target. Bartlett said that 100 percent of their current outreach efforts are directed at the at-risk population.
Lycée recently signed an agreement to purchase the former Priestly Junior High School building in the Pigeon-Town neighborhood. Bartlett said they have been going door-to-door and holding informational events to encourage parents in the neighborhood to enroll their pre-K or Kindergarten students. If they enroll, he said that Lycée would provide special transportation for the students to the current main campus located on Patton Street in the Uptown neighborhood. Then, when the school moves, Bartlett said, they will be able to attend in their own neighborhood. He estimates the move in about three years, as the purchase agreement is still in a preliminary stage.
The school’s outreach efforts extend to events held in a number of neighborhoods across the city as well, and frequent open houses held at the school’s three campuses.
Bartlett acknowledges some of the challenges of marketing the French language education. He said that many parents express concern about being able to help their children with homework, but that the school provides extra resources and assigns homework with this in mind. “Well over 90 percent of the students come from English-speaking homes,” he said.
Transportation is another challenge they are working better to meet, he said.
And then there’s the “Why learn French?” question. Trumel and Hinz, of course, can quickly rattle off dozens of reasons.
Bartlett said that it’s not as much a question of “Why learn French?” as it is a question of “Why learn a second language?”
Of course there’s the local heritage, but learning any language is hugely beneficial to brain development and critical thinking, Bartlett said. And being bilingual gives anyone a leg up to any student as they apply to college and enter the workforce.
While Lycée’s eventual plans are to expand to a high school, Bartlett said that if that can be accelerated, they would be happy to see more high school opportunities sooner in the city, and will support that effort. But Bartlett also noted that his desire is not to “poach” French students from other schools.
Hinz and Trumel said that whether an existing school expands or an entirely new school is created, they hope to see an offering at least beginning at a 9th grade level for 2016. Just in recent weeks they said they’ve seen a significant increase in interest in the idea of a high school from school leaders and the community.
“It’s an opportunity that should not be missed for the children of New Orleans,” Trumel said, “and for the place of New Orleans as an international city.”
This article originally published in the February 16, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
