November 12th to November 25th
1
In order to protect the identity of all individuals who have submitted correspondence
with regard to the Central Guelph (FI) Accommodation Review and in keeping with the
Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, all personal
information and/or identifiers have been severed from all recorded communication
(i.e. e-mails and letters) prior to distribution. The intent or message has not been
changed.
If I understand both South Guelph Scenarios, there will no longer be a separate school for
grades 7 and 8 french immersion students. I find this to be a very sad thing.
My oldest son is currently in grade 7 at King George and is extremely happy that he has
moved on from John McCrae into an environment geared towards his age group. The school
offers sports, clubs and an environment that is exciting, refreshing and challenging to the 12
and 13 year olds attending King George.
In contrast, his last year at John McCrae was barely tolerable, as the school has a very strong
focus on its younger grades. The needs of the grade six students were often compromised in
favour of the younger grades (e.g., space in the school yard, level of maturity of school
events). (I will refrain from commenting on the strong gender bias (against male students) at
this school, but somebody ought to look closely at this issue someday.)
My youngest son is currently in grade four, and would have to remain at John McCrae if these
proposed scenarios remain unchanged in respect to the 7/8 grades. I am not optimistic that
a K to 8 school will offer him the same environment and experiences my oldest son is
benefiting from at King George.
And that is a sad thing indeed.
Information Received – Thank You
We have had the pleasure of having some of our children attend F.A.Hamilton school since
it opened. Families in our area were so excited to finally have a neighbourhood school that
our children could safely walk to & over the years this school has been a huge part of our
lives. As foster & adoptive parents, we are proud to say that our children ( no matter what their
physical & learning challenges) have been not only welcomed but nurtured & supported at
F.A. Hamilton. That continues to this day. This board should be proud of this school & all of
its staff both past & present.
For our neighbourhood & its families the school is not only a place for our children to get
an education, but it is a gathering place in our community.
In a world that can often be daunting, especially to those children who for a variety of
reasons face many challenges, Fred A.Hamilton is a safe place to fall. A place where
acceptance & caring & reaching out to others is the norm not the exception.
Our city is lucky to have such a school.
Information Received.
November 12th to November 25th
2
To Whom It May Concern:
I have something that I would like to address regarding the Victory Public School and Paisley
Road scenarios.
My son currently goes to Victory and in the event that Victory becomes a dual track walking
school my son would then be sent to Paisley Road as we reside in the West End.
Victory has a before and after school program for children who attend but as far I know there
is no such program at Paisley Road. Not only could some children need to go to a new
school, but now would also face a new daycare situation for before and after school. As a
parent it is difficult to find quality care for our children these days and Kidz Club provides a
wonderful care program.
I believe that this is a very important issue to consider. I have been in contact with Kidz Club
at Victory and will attempt to get some numbers of how many children would be affected by a
move to a new school in the event it were to happen.
(same contributor as above)
To Whom It May Concern,
I realize in my last e-mail regarding the before and after school program at Victory Public
school that my e-mail was very one-sided to the children attending from the West End.
That was not my intention. The concern for the lack of a before and after school program at
Paisley Road or any other school(s) in consideration affects both local fench and english
students as well as those being bussed in from the West End.
Information Received
Hello,
I am a member of the Fred A. Hamilton Public School Community. We moved to Guelph in
late 1996 when our first born was an infant. We bought our home here on Ironwood as we
saw it as a wonderful family oriented neighbourhood with a school in the area, that our
children would one day walk to.
The neighbourhood has changed with the influx of university students coming in, but we were
willing to stick around long term as the school the children attended and walked to was so
wonderful.
My eldest has graduated from FAH and now attends Jean Little. My youngest is in Grade 4
and loving things at FAH. FAH is a community school and it is so great to see all the children
walking there.
There is this talk that the children from FAH will be moved out and split up amongst 3 different
schools. This could potentially happen in my youngest child's grade 6 year. What was
November 12th to November 25th
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supposed to be his last year at FAH. They are stating that the neighbourhood south of
Ironwood where we live would attend Kortright Hills PS. Currently there are 3 children in his
grade that live in our area. So he would have to start brand new in grade 6 at a huge school
with 2 other friends. And potentially get split up there as they likely have more than one grade
6 class. Do you have any idea how life changing that would be for a child? To put him on a
bus after he was used to walking [and staying healthy] for so many years. First to rip him out
of his home school that he has loved and attended with his dear friends for what would be 6
years at that point. And then to separate him from all his friends. This makes no sense to me.
If FAH has to close to accommodate a smaller number of French Immersion children that is
unfortunate. But I can live with that. I cannot live with him getting separated from his friends at
this late age. We have talked about moving to a bigger home in a new area, but we have
stayed here because of the school. And now to take the school away from the neighbourhood
is just so wrong.
Please think of these children. I could actually see my child shutting down in a large school
like Kortright if you pull him away from his friends. The greater costs later might be kid with
social issues and problems that might not meet their potential if their social group is pulled
away from them.
Think about the children when making decisions, not just about money.
The FAH community is a wonderful community. My son enjoys a wonderful Cubs program, we
enjoy our wonderful neighbourhood activities, we have a wonderful reading program, Heart
and Stroke skipping team. The list is endless. If the school closes you will likely see more
students move into the neighbourhood as I for one would never have moved here if there
wasn’t a local school. You will see families move out and no new families moving in. If you
want to create an area in town taken over with university students so be it. It just doesn’t make
sense. Why not create a new school for the 7-8 FI children, and let John McCrae continue to
be a k-6 school.
Lets see an answer that doesn’t create unnecessary turmoil for children. I would think this
would be the last thing the board would want.
If you have any questions please contact me.
Information Received.
I am part of the "Hamilton Hosers", a group of parents from F.A. Hamilton Public School who
annually build and maintain, on a voluntary basis, a skating rink located on the school
grounds every winter. This skating rink is utilized not only by members of the surrounding
community but by the teachers and students of the school during the day. As well, parents tie
skates at lunch recess for those students wishing to skate. The students and teachers have also
used the rink to play the Guelph Storm and the Hanlon Creek Neighbourhood Group has
utilized the rink for the City winter carnival held in February.
Although other schools in Guelph may have rinks that are built and maintained by those living
close by, the rink at FAH is unique in that there is a large university student population living
adjacent to the school grounds. We have recruited some of these students to help build and
November 12th to November 25th
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flood this rink all winter. This rink not only provides a positive, physical outlet for the FAH
students but a positive link between the school, community and university students living close
by. It allows some of the university students to have a sense of ownership of the community in
which they are living, thus preventing some of the hooliganism which our neighbourhood has
seen in the past.
If FA Hamilton PS were to close as an English school, I would almost guarantee that there
would be no rink for the community as well as one less positive liaison between the university
student population and the community.
As well, the money the City of Guelph gives the Hamilton Hosers for each day that the rink is
able to be utilized goes back to the FAH students in the form of a donation to the annual
family June barbeque. School is much more than a container to hold children. It incorporates
academics as well as a sense of belonging and community.
I wish you luck with your review process.
Information Received.
Have you considered using the new school to be built in the South End? (possibly as duel
track). It would be a fresh start for everyone and not as disruptive to existing schools.
Regards,
Here's our input:
Our children attend Victory PS in French Immersion.
We would like to see a re-emphasis on Community schools (ie: walkable) during this review.
Having had our children attend another school where 60-70% of children were bused-in we
have noticed:
-Busing decreased physical activity in children, including lost after-school playtime, decreased
use of the school playground after hours, and the more obvious lost walking opportunity
-Busing increased the time it took for children new to the school to make new deepfriendships, as parents had less opportunity to meet each other
In addition, community schools decrease busing costs and reduce the reliance on fossil fuels.
We chose to live in the Exhibition park neighbourhood specifically because we would be near
the school. The school is an important social centre for the adults as well as the children.
We hope that Victory is kept a dual track school.
When our children are old enough to go to their next school we are hoping that it will be
walkable, or bike-able as well.
Information Received.
November 12th to November 25th
5
We wish to express our strong support of the position of Delegates M. Milde and S. Fogler
addressing the key issue of the potential erosion of the middle school programming for FI
students, such as it exists at King George now. Our sense is this would be a tremendously
significant loss of experiences, opportunities, programs, for many students. We have limited
but impactful experiences with one child now enrolled in grade F7 and truly appreciate and
understand first hand as parents what rich programming, resources, incentives, etc., King
George has to offer our child(ren). The middle school experiences serve to launch our young
adolescents into higher responsibilities, community membership and so on. It is the
accumulations of daily small enriching opportunities that I see are offered in the current King
George middle school model, which appear to be at risk.
My daughter comes home most days of the week full of lively conversation and story-tellings
about her school days. Most of this relates to teachers who encourage and support and
challenge her to stretch, try new things, consider taking ‘risks’ which also results in her
stopping to think and reflect – much more than classroom academics. This is unique and
remarkable and must be preserved in planning for the future of all FI children entering grades
7 & 8.
We’ve read the document the Delegates have prepared for the ARC meeting tomorrow
evening and wish to inform you, as trustee, we firmly and strongly agree with the issues
outlined, and remain deeply concerned about the potential losses the proposed changes (as
they have been identified so far) may have on the current programming for the Intermediate
school for for children coming into grades FI 7& 8.
What else can we do to convey our concerns and strong support for the position taken by
Delegates Michael and Sarah?
Information Received
HELLO AGAIN,
I still have not heard back from you regarding my request for information (see email below)
dated November 10, 2008. I realise it may take time to pull together the information, so I
was wondering if you could give me an estimated time for response? It seems to me that this is
critical information as the committee wrestles with this very issue at Victory and Paisley Road.
I also have a couple of follow-up questions –
First, since the Board has gone though the process of converting two schools (Edward Johnson
and John McCrae) from dual-track to single track, could we not collect information on the
“success” of those changes to the community? Even a simple questionnaire to parents of the
affected schools asking about the transition process, their current satisfaction and
recommendations for improvements to the process in the future could provide valuable
information to committee on the real impacts (positive and negative) of their
recommendations?
Second, at the November 19th Public Meeting, Deb Steplock responded to a question
regarding programming. She indicated that programming was the central issue of the AR and
pointed to the analysis instrument as a demonstration of this. However, when I look at the
analysis instrument section entitled “program considerations” I do not understand how the
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criteria listed have much if anything to do with actual programming. It seems more a checklist
of how well the scenario meets the Board’s guidelines (4 considerations) and numbers (2
considerations – dual track balance and Number of schools a child needs to attend). I
recognize that the grade-level teaching partners and specialized teaching/learning do relate
to programming, but I don’t really see how the actual programming issues are addressed. I
don’t mean to be bull-headed about this, but I truly want to understand how programming
issues will be addressed. For example, take an issue like music which is something that is very
important to many families. How would the availability of a music room and musical
instruments with a qualified teacher fit into the considerations listed? What if the school has no
music room, musical instruments or music teacher – how would the committee rate the
scenario? Or what if the school has no science and tech lab now but with the addition of
more space and/or equipment and a qualified teacher the school could add that capability –
how would that be factored into the analysis?
Thank you again for your time. Please provide me with an estimate of when you expect to
respond to my questions.
KEIP – Keep Enriched Intermediate Programs
As you mentioned, we are in the midst of pulling together information for the Accommodation
Review Committee as well as other public requests for data so there is a lag in time between
public emails and our responses. We anticipate being able to provide you with a response by
the end of this week.
Hello,
I'd like to add my name to the list of residents concerned about the
proposed changes to Victory Public School. Both my sons attended
Victory (English). They graduated and have since moved on to Willow
Road PS and GCVI.
The idea of closing the English program at Victory is simply wrongheaded in these times when:
1. Communities are trying to intensify and encourage more residents to
live in the downtown area. Neighbourhood schools are a critical
factor in families' decisions to locate. Closing programs will
discourage families from moving downtown.
2. Childhood obesity is a major problem. Children should walk to
school for daily exercise. Economies of scale are one thing, but our
childrens' health should be a higher priority.
Please acknowledge that you've received my comments. I'd appreciate
knowing how they will be considered in the decision process.
Information Received – responded to by Deb.