Victory Written Presentation Our position We believe that Victory Public School should remain a dual-track community school and therefore unanimously support Scenario #1. In addition, we propose a modification to allow the existing members of the Victory community currently bussed from the West End to continue until they finish grade 6. In this written submission we set forth the reasons why Scenario #1 should be recommended to the board and why Scenario #2 should be rejected. Background: Who we represent and how we came to support Scenario #1 This submission reflects the unanimous position of 150 respondents to a community survey and 300 signatories to a petition that Victory should remain a dual-track community school . The group has representation from the entire catchment area of Victory, including families of regular track and French Immersion students, homeowners without children at Victory, and residents with young children yet to enter the school system. We have read the material provided by the Board and attended the first public meeting held to explain the process. We have participated in the development of our school profile and familiarized ourselves with the guidelines the ARC must use to determine its recommendation to the board. In five open public meetings held at Victory Public School and through discussion over the internet over 100 residents have actively participated in the process. This presentation represents the consensus that has emerged on the issues facing our community and the school board. The guideline has been helpful in directing our discussions and has helped to focus the disparate considerations that are to be taken into account in reaching a recommendation. We also recognize that the overriding objective of all is to provide an education in the best way for students and the community. The civic participation in the process implemented by the board is appreciated, because it brings out the difficult to quantify elements such as the social impact of the various proposals. The key components that have emerged from our discussions. Victory Public School has been the hub of its neighbourhood since 1919 and continues to anchor a vibrant, healthy, downtown community within a city that is recognized as a great place to live, work and raise a family. School is a child’s first exposure to the broader community and the beginning of the realization of her presence within a larger community beyond family. Our goal in supporting Scenario #1 is maintaining schools that facilitate this important transition in an environment in which the child can feel safe and secure, and begin to strengthen his ties to the community. We believe, and the survey responses and open public meetings overwhelmingly state, that this can best be done within the child’s geographic reality. This presentation will outline five key components we wish to draw the committee’s attention to: 1. the school as the hub of a healthy neighbourhood 2. benefits of dual track 3. quality of the school 4. enrolment 5. economic impact These topics have emerged from our meetings, surveys, and petitions and have led us to the conclusion that scenario #1 is the best solution for the students, the community, the ARC committee and the Board. 1. The School as the hub of a healthy neighbourhood Scenario #1 would enable each school to be situated in the centre of its walkable catchment area, (show overhead) whereas scenario #2 does not (show overhead). Although neither scenario closes Victory Public School, scenario #2 closes the school as a community institution and transforms it into a facility in which French Immersion is delivered to a student body of which two-thirds are bused in. The displacement of regular track students divides a cohesive neighbourhood, and the requirement to attend Willow Road means that most of the current regular track students will no longer be able to walk to school. The walking routes from Victory’s catchment area to Willow will double or triple the one way walking time for students making it less likely that parents will walk their children to school. The need to walk through walkways that border a high school and ultimately to cross Edinburgh Road and the railway track, render the trip unsafe for unescorted grade 4, 5 and 6 students (who may have otherwise walked to Victory). The result will be a huge increase in bus or car trips. This in turn decreases the interaction between parents, and parents and teachers, and impedes development of community and social cohesion. Walking to school should be encouraged as it promotes a physically active lifestyle which has direct health benefits that will last a lifetime. Childhood obesity rates have tripled in Canada in the past twenty-five years in part because we are engineering activity right out of children’s lives. Walking to school does not pollute and encourages interaction with the environment and people within the neighbourhood. A school within walking distance results in higher participation in the extracurricular activities that enrich the educational experience. Further, walkable and bikeable schools are consistent with our city's progressive sustainability strategies, including the Walk to School Pilot Project, the Bicycle-Friendly Guelph Initiative, and the Guelph Environmental Leadership Group, just to name a few. The mission and policy statements will be included in Tab 1. Scenario #2 will create a situation where two-thirds of Victory students are bused in, and 110 regular track students are bused or driven to a school outside the catchment area. Busing is bad and should be avoided through planning wherever possible. Diesel burning buses spew pollutants into the air as they idle for extended periods on the edges of the school yards where children play. The bus ride lengthens a child’s school day considerably -- even if the trip is relatively short. Safety concerns include the manoeuvring of the buses on narrow streets with children making their way to school and the fact that the bus itself is largely unsupervised. Busing is also expensive and drains scarce resources from more important priorities, namely the children’s education. Scenario #1 will not eliminate busing, but it will minimize it in the short term and in the long-term will eliminate the need for students to be bused to Victory Public School. 2. Enrolment Scenario #1 achieves the necessary enrolment numbers by drawing regular track and French Immersion students from the catchment area. The need to ensure a rational utilization of physical assets of the board and to have sufficient enrolment to deliver programs is obvious. All neighbourhoods go through natural demographic cycles in which school enrolment fluctuates. This can create challenges as schools are not mobile. We believe that the best way to plan to weather the fluctuations is to have a school in the centre of a catchment area large enough to sustain the school. If adjustments are needed, these can be achieved easily by adjusting with the borders of the catchment area. Scenario #2 achieves the necessary numbers by busing in two-thirds of the students from outside the catchment area. Once the regular track program is closed at Victory it would be difficult to resurrect in the event that the number of regular track students in the catchment area increases in the future. 3. Quality of Victory Public School Victory is an excellent school. Any objective assessment establishes the school as an example to be emulated, not torn apart. Parental involvement in the school is demonstrated at all levels -- from parents council to volunteering in the classroom and extra-curricular activities. The EQAO results are outstanding. The school is a safe, well-disciplined environment with high staff and student morale. The principal knows every student by name and every student is told and comes to believe that they are an important member and contributor to the Victory “family”. This message is a trust that ought not be broken. Scenario #2 would tell every regular track student that they were not an important member. Unless Scenario #1 is modified to allow French Immersion students from the West End to finish up to Grade 6, it would tell them the same thing -- and would be equally unacceptable. Disruption does occur in individual families and sometimes is unavoidable, but the comfort that comes from continuity is important to instil in our children and the implied promise attached to the message that each individual student is an important part of the fabric of Victory should not be broken. 4. Benefits of Dual Track Schools Victory is ideally suited to house a dual-track school. Having the choice of either track is a definite benefit for residents of the neighbourhood. While city-wide the split between regular track and French Immersion is 85/15, within the Victory catchment area the split is very near 50/50. French Immersion is not suitable for all children. A dual-track school enables siblings in different tracks to attend the same school. It also eases the transition between tracks. If a child is not experiencing success in the French Immersion stream it is a less difficult decision to make if one can choose the regular track within the same school. This enables parents to make the best decision for their child . 5. Economic Impacts In an attempt to assess the neighbourhood’s position on the issue, a questionnaire was sent to every home within the catchment area. The response rate was impressive. Over 150 residents responded to the survey (Tab 2). A recurring theme was that families had made their biggest investment (their home) in the neighbourhood because of Victory Public School and the desire to send their children there. (Tab 3) Many people have expressed concern that closing Victory as a community school will adversely affect the resale value of their homes. Clearly, parents of primary aged children in the regular track would have no reason to purchase a home in our neighbourhood if their school was Willow Road. The bigger picture concerns the viability of Guelph’s downtown core as a residential centre. Places to Grow has advocated policies of increasing population density in the core. Jobs downtown do not produce the same economic multipliers as residences downtown. A viable downtown business community requires residents. There are already plans to close two downtown primary schools by 2010 (Tytler and Laurine Ave). Closing the regular track at Victory would weaken the social fabric in our downtown neighbourhood at a time when the civic leadership is trying to strengthen it for environmentally responsible development. Conclusion The best option before the ARC committee is Scenario #1. It achieves everything the board wants, and needs to achieve. It keeps all the schools impacted by these changes at the geographic centre of their catchment area, and it maintains Victory Public School as the safe and successful community hub that it has been since 1919. There is strong support from involved parents and concerned community members to maintain Victory as a dual-track school which the vast majority of students can walk to. We also strongly believe that students who are currently being bused in should be able to continue at the school until they complete Grade 6. We believe that the ARC committee will draw the same conclusion as the hundreds of people who stand behind this presentation have, and look forward to a recommendation of scenario # 1 to the board. Hanlon Creek Neighbourhood Group – Cathy Cargoe-Tonner The HCNG was formed in 2005. Our boundaries reflect the catchment area of FA Hamilton and Jean Little Schools. We are apart of the City of Guelphs’ Neighbourhood Support Coalition. Our primary goals are to bring the community together, and to help residents deal with student renters, who sometimes make community building difficult. Over the past 3.5 years we’ve been working with FA Hamilton School and as a result a wonderful synergy has developed between the school and the Hanlon Creek Neighbourhood Group. Every member of the planning committee for the Hanlon Creek Neighbourhood Group lives in the FA Hamilton neighbourhood and is whole-heartedly committed to making the lives of the residents in our area better. We have almost all of our meetings at the school, and it is where we host our community building events, which include: • Information nights- about student renters, which run in conjunction with the city, police and the U of G. • Harvest Happening- drew over 100 residents, and community members enjoyed free cider, pie and the children were involved in crafts and indoor/outdoor games • Cones in the Park- where we give out free ice cream cones at 5 different locations throughout the summer, our biggest draw is always at FA Hamilton. This past summer we had 140 people attend the event at FA Hamilton compared to an average of 30 at other sites. All of our events are free to community residents. We know we can count on the children, parents and residents surrounding FA Hamilton School to make our events a success. We are able to announce our events and programs to the school community through the schools newsletters, calendars, plus the schools sidewalk sign. In addition, the neighbourhood group tries to help out as many local residents as we can. We organize Christmas hampers for those in need. We regularly have opportunities for at-risk students and families, such as – subsidized spaces in programs, chances to go to summer camp, or free bicycles. In order to find the children who need these opportunities the most, we need the help of the teachers, office staff and especially the principal. Without fail the staff at FA Hamilton has identified those in need and have taken care of contacting the families and even doing paperwork around including these children. It is important to note that we have a significant population at our school that live in social housing and rent-geared-to-income housing that benefit from the collaboration between the school and the Neighbourhood Group. It would be nearly impossible for us to carry out our work without the neighbourhood school. IF FA Hamilton were turned into a French Immersion Centre, the students would be sent to three different schools, two of which are not in our catchment area. Unless we went door-to door for every event we would have no way of reaching all those children and their families, and those at risk and eligible for free programs would miss out. The Hanlon Creek Neighbourhood Group and FA Hamilton Public School support each other to enrich the lives of families in this area. They are inextricably linked together. The City of Guelph is working very hard to keep Neighbourhood Groups strong, because strong Neighbourhood Groups are known to improve the quality of life in a city, increasing citizen involvement and a vast array of other benefits. Hanlon Creek Neighbourhood Group urgently requests that you maintain FA Hamilton as a neighbourhood school rather than a French Immersion center. Representation: Hanlon Creek Neighbourhood group (HCNG) Date: November 19, 2008 Speakers: Cathy Cargoe-Tonner and Maria Merez What HCNG gives to the Neighbourhood Why HCNG needs FA Hamilton to remain a neighbourhood school HCNG planning meetings (all members of the group live in the neighbourhood) Community building events (information nights about student renters) Winterfest * Meetings held at the school (all members are able to walk to the meetings) * Hosted at the school Harvest Happening (free cider, pie, crafts, indoor/outdoor games) Cones in the park (free ice cream cones, games, 5 different locations over summer) Craft Club Free Bicycle Free trip to Tim Horton’s Camp Free swimming Lessens through the City Attendance at St. James Christmas Party (free gift, lunch, craft, 20 children) * Hosted at the school * Parents make a fabulous rink that this site has the highest number of participants * Event was advertised in school newsletter, sidewalk sign * Held at school * Drew over 100 residents * Event was advertised in school newsletter, sidewalk sign * Largest number of participants was at FA Hamilton – 140 compared to an average of 30 at other sites * Event was advertised in school newsletter, sidewalk sign * Held at school after hours * Principal linked us to children who we were able to subsidize the cost * Event was advertised in school newsletter, sidewalk sign * Registration took place at the school * These are all cases where the staff and principal have helped us locate which children need us most because of limitation in the Privacy Protection Act We can always count on the children, parents, and residents surrounding FA Hamilton School to make our events a success. It would be nearly impossible for us to carry out our work without the neighbourhood school. The Hanlon Creek Neighbourhood Group and FA Hamilton support each other to enrich the lives of families in this area. They are inextricably linked together. FAH is the Heart of our Community – Ilka Boecker In our neighbourhood, FA Hamilton School is so much more than just a place where our children go to learn each day. Over the last eighteen years since the school opened its doors, it has become the focus of the entire neighbourhood, bringing us all together and in turn holding the community together. If FA Hamilton became a French Immersion Centre, these are the kinds of things that would be lost to us: 1. The sense of community we gain from simply being at the school with our children. Unlike a school where children ride the bus, at our school the entire community gathers at 8:30 and 3:10 as parents bring drop off and pick up their children. After school in particular you’ll find several families using the play equipment in warmer weather, or sledding down the great hill at the back of the school during the winter. This is the way a neighbourhood should work – building connections through impromptu play. 2. Our outdoor ice rink. This rink is made by parents of FAH students who call themselves the Hamilton Hosers. This dedicated group of parents will often stay out until 2:00 am flooding the rink for students at the school and the neighbourhood in general. It’s such a great rink that it won best outdoor community rink two years ago. Children skate on the rink during lunch, and parent volunteers come in at lunch to tie the younger students’ skates. This is evidence of the entire ethic of involvement and activity that the school brings to the neighbourhood. If children are split up between three schools and put onto buses out of our neighbourhood, parents aren’t going to sacrifice all that time for the rink. 3. We have many university students living in the neighbourhood, which brings with it a number of rather serious problems. However, many of those university students volunteer at our school, with the breakfast club, with reading programs, or doing their child studies practicums. Being connected to the school makes the university students better and more responsible residents of the neighbourhood, not to mention all the benefits to the children at the school. 4. Because of the type of housing in our neighbourhood, our school has many new Canadians in it. The small size of the school allows the whole community to welcome these new families and support them through their transition right in their own neighbourhood. The same can be said of our gifted program. Many of the gifted students have had trouble fitting in at their home school. In a small school such as ours, the gifted children are integrated right into a school community where diversity is valued and celebrated. If FA Hamilton becomes a French Immersion Centre, the gifted students are slated to go to Kortright Hills, a much larger and less diverse school than ours, and many parents of gifted students feel that it would be much more difficult for their children to fit in there. 5. FA Hamilton students have always been connected to the physical green spaces that surround our school. The students are official stewards of Sanctuary Woods, a woodlot adjacent to the school that was scheduled to be razed and developed. Student protest helped to turn woods into a conservation area. There is a plaque in the woods to commemorate and thank our student community. 6. Finally, and this is most important, FA Hamilton is not just a building into which you place children because it’s convenient. FA Hamilton belongs to the neighbourhood. The school has a diverse and stable population. We are projected to be at or slightly above capacity for the next ten years. All our students walk. There is absolutely no need to close our school to the neighbourhood children. As much as French Immersion was a choice that other parents chose, FAH is a choice – a first choice – for the parents in our neighbourhood. People bought in the area because of the small school, the short walking distance, and the notion of a community school. When making a decision, please do not dismantle an entire school population and the entire neighbourhood surrounding it. Please do not convert FA Hamilton to a French Immersion centre. KEEP ENRICHED INTERMEDIATE PROGRAMS (KEIP) Our Delegation, Parents interested in Keeping Enriched Intermediate Programs, has come to speak not on behalf of a specific school but for all parents who are concerned about the quality of education at the grade 7/8 level. We represent FI parents, however the issue is not restricted to FI, but rather relates to the quality of Intermediate programming in general. We are here to raise a critical issue that we believe is being lost in this Accommodation Review. History The current Central Guelph French Immersion Elementary Accommodation Review process was set in motion when King George P.S. (KG) became designated as “Prohibitive to Repair” and funds in the order of 8.8 million dollars became available to build a new school. The current Central Guelph Accommodation Review is the sequel to the East Guelph AR, which concluded in the spring of 2008, and resulted in the decision to close King George P.S., and build a new English-only JK-8 school on the King George site. As a result, grade 7/8 French Immersion students, are losing their school and the Intermediate programs it currently provides. It is important to point out, that the decision to close King George to the FI Grade 7/8 students was made without any planning to maintain the quality of programming currently provided at King George and without addressing where and how these students would be educated in the future. The current AR process is intended to address several French immersion issues at once, including • a new site(s) for the grade 7 and 8 FI program • accommodating the growing number of FI students in the South Guelph area through a second location for the JK to grade 6 FI program • balancing enrolments in the short and long term among other Guelph schools: John McCrae, Edward Johnson, Paisley Road, Victory, FA Hamilton and Priory Park • a review of the programs and grade organizations in the schools. The review committee consists of two parent representatives from each of the schools listed above. It is important to point out that since none of the schools included in the review include the current FI Grade 7/8 school, there is NO parent representation for the intermediate Grades. It is our contention that the Central Guelph FI ARC process is currently and will continue to focus the majority of its effort on the difficult and at times divisive issues of the school designations, boundaries and student numbers. As a result, the Grade 7/8 programming considerations will be lost in the search to find space for 200+ Grade 7/8 students. Currently at King George Approximately 400 students attend King George, roughly evenly divided between English and FI, which allows for approximately 8 classes of each grade (4 French, 4 English). Keep Enriched Intermediate Programs Delegation November 19, 2008 Public Meeting Presentation 1 of 4 Because of the high concentration of similar age students, the school has a rich offering of programs and resources, such as 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. an age-appropriate library a Math Science Technology lab with qualified teacher an instrumental music program with music room and qualified teacher an art room with a qualified teacher a vast array of extra-curricular activities ranging from sports to band with clubs such as a science club and a social action club Note that in Grade 7/8 only about 50 % of the curriculum is taught in French and currently the qualified Math Science Technology Laboratory, Instrumental Music and Art teachers are all English teachers. Students have the benefit of subject rotations with specialist teachers. They learn in a community of peers how to manage lockers and time-tables. As a professional community, teachers and administrators have the resources to support each other and focus on an age group that is making the transition to high school. As a result of the current accommodation review process, there is a very real and serious risk that the French Immersion Community will lose most, if not all, of the wonderful programs currently enjoyed by all of the students at King George. It cannot be repeated enough that we are losing a program under the proposed Accommodation review scenarios. It is not merely a question of relocating the Grade 7/8 students to different buildings. The dispersal of approximately 200 FI students to two different schools in North and South Guelph entails 3-5 7/8 classes in each school, which while in keeping with the Board’s preferred configurations of “3-5 Grade 7/8 classes” is not a critical mass to sustain the programs and facilities described above. We do not accept that the Board is receiving 8.8 million dollars for new school construction in East Guelph while cutting a thriving, high quality program for all of Guelph’s FI students that is universally supported by parents, students, teachers and alumni. Flawed Public Consultation Process As we have tried to make clear, grade 7/8 students constitute a specific group that stands to lose a great deal more than the other schools under AR, because actual educational content is at stake. Nevertheless, advocates for this group have had no voice and no forum for input. 1. The decision to close KG under the “Prohibitive to repair” provision was made before the school valuation template was ever presented to the KG community as part of the East Guelph AR last spring. This constitutes an impropriety in terms of due process. Likewise, there is not adequate representation and consideration of the Grade 7/8 FI community in the current Accommodation Review. 2. ARC has identified the technicalities of boundaries, school designations, and balanced numbers as the key issues. It has not disclosed or clarified at any stage of the proceedings that severe program disruptions to 7/8 will ensue from the proposed Keep Enriched Intermediate Programs Delegation November 19, 2008 Public Meeting Presentation 2 of 4 scenarios. Consequently, participants in the process do not have a complete picture of all the implications of the decisions that are being made. As an example, we asked the Board to respond to the following question related to the Board’s guidelines for 3-5 Grade 7/8 classes: ”do 3-5 classes provide the critical mass of students needed to provide instrumental music programs, trained art teachers and science and technology labs?” Their response may surprise many of the parents and ARC members here tonight: “3-5 classes make it more likely that specialty teachers are available on staff. Science and Technology labs are determined by the facility that was built in the school.” (13 November, 2008 e-mail from Centralguelph.comments@ugdsb.on.ca) Our interpretation of this response is that moving the Grade 7/8 students to a new location is absolutely no guarantee that the existing program facilities and teachers will move with them. In fact, it is unlikely that the currently proposed scenarios will result in anywhere near the same level of program offering to the Grade 7/8 students unless this is a stated goal in the review process and efforts are made to ensure the goal is met. Perhaps this is stating the obvious, but if having a Science and Technology Laboratory is determined by the facility that was built in the school, since neither John McCrae nor Paisley Road have these facilities now, moving the Grade 7/8 students to those schools will deny then access to such facilities unless programming is considered as part of this review. 3. Individuals concerned about 7/8 programming are not on the same page as their individual school committees and ARC reps, each of whom is grappling with issues specific to JK-6 and their own community such as single vs. dual track, walk-ability and over-capacity. 4. At the previous public meeting, the Chair of the committee stated that the 4 scenarios proposed by the Board staff were only a starting point in the accommodation review and that other options that are identified by the committee and the public would also be considered. However, the recently circulated November Update stated “we decided how we’ll deal with additional ideas and scenarios you have asked us to consider that are beyond our mandate (emphasis added).” How did the 4 initial scenarios become the committees “mandate” and other options and ideas get put into the Parking Lot? This is a serious breach of due process and even if the wording was a mistake, it clearly shows the bias in the process to move ahead within the limited time provided to the committee to focus the majority of their efforts on the initial scenarios which do not address programming at all. 5. The fate of 7/8 is an issue greater than any specific school. In fact, this entire accommodation review has the potential to foster the continued strengthening and growth of the FI program in Guelph or to mark the beginning of the end. As stated before, a program is at stake, and eventually all FI students will be in affected, regardless of where they go to school now. It is an unconscionable omission from the process so far that educational content does not have a central place in the discussion. It is part of our intent tonight to raise awareness in the general community of this layer of complexity in the AR process. Keep Enriched Intermediate Programs Delegation November 19, 2008 Public Meeting Presentation 3 of 4 Recommendations As parents who are first and foremost concerned about the quality of education for our children, we want to highlight that we do not accept that the future of FI 7/8 is something that “comes out in the wash” after all the competing issues of the current AR are settled. We want programming in the context of the proposed changes addressed as a central issue in its own right, and we will not settle for anything less than what is available to Grade 7/8 students at KG now. We respectfully submit that the AR needs to adequately address the issue of grades 7/8 accommodation by placing program delivery as a central and critical element of the review process. Therefore, we are requesting that the Board 1. Acknowledge the strengths and benefits of the Intermediate program at King George 2. Commit to preserving the programs and program delivery that now exists at King George, and 3. Only with those criteria firmly established, commit to the principle of finding the best location to deliver a high quality middle school program. Specifically, alternative scenarios must be considered for the Grade 7/8 FI students including a. At least one scenario that keeps all Guelph FI students together in a single school with adequate facilities for the intermediate grades, and b. Scenarios that combines the FI 7/8 students with existing English 7/8 students for adequate numbers of students and facilities to continue the enriched programming currently offered at King George. This is a natural combination since 50% of the curriculum at this level is in English and apart from language instruction, the educational needs of English and French students are the same. The guiding principle must be sufficient numbers and adequate facilities to ensure subject rotation, specialist teachers, science labs, art programs, a broad range of extra-curricular programs, and give grade 7/8 students the space they need away from younger students as they develop toward independence and high school. Please note that we are not specifically opposed to K-8 schools but want to ensure that the future Grade 7/8 students receive the equivalent programs and opportunities that the current Grade 7/8 students enjoy. For Further Information If you would like additional information or would like to join the Keep Enriched Intermediate Programs (KEIP) Parent Group, please contact either: Michael Milde mmilde@golden.net Sarah Fogler sp.fogler@sympatico.ca Keep Enriched Intermediate Programs Delegation November 19, 2008 Public Meeting Presentation 4 of 4