From October 21st to October 29th
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.
Dear Trustees and Members of the Accommodation Review Committee for French
Immersion,
I am writing to voice my strong opposition for Scenario B for the French Immersion
Accommodation Review.
Firstly, I would like to express my concern about the timing of the proposed changes.
I have children who attend John McCrae. By the time the proposed changes will take
place in 2010, they will have changed buildings four times in four years.
For young, primary aged students, these changes can be traumatic. Getting used to a
building, figuring out how not to get lost on the way to the washroom or the water
fountain, establishing friendships and developing strategies to find those friends in the
yard at recess, all take time. Moreover, my child, who started grade one this year,
had to make one set of friends in kindergarten, another now in grade one and will
face yet another year where he needs to make friends only two years later. Asking
primary aged students to make new friends every two years reduces the stability that is
necessary as a foundation to their education.
Secondly, I am deeply concerned about the small boundary of students who will be
transferred to Priory Park. I cannot understand how the boundary for Priory Park was
determined. The boundary creates several questions: How can I find out how many
students from the proposed boundary currently attend John McCrae? I worry about
the friendships that the elementary students from the newly established dual track
school will be able to make. How many students are there in that small area? Would
such a small boundary include enough students to make up the 200 that the board
suggests for each program for a dual track school?
Will all classes need to be split grades?
It appears from the map that John McCrae, with a large program and new facility, will
be the "have" school – a library newly equipped with an infusion of $20000 of books
from the parent council, a "wish list" granted to teachers by parent council for
classroom materials, a beautiful new building on prime riverfront property, new play
structures recently purchased by the affluent parent council, and so on.
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Priory Park, on the other hand, will be "have not."
A small school can never hope to raise funds to the levels that John McCrae's parent
council is able to achieve. Where will their French resources come from?
It appears that with some small exceptions, neighbourhoods with homes of higher
value will be staying at John McCrae with lower socio-economic areas including the
town homes surrounding the Stone Road Mall will be transferred to Priory Park. Why
not include more of South Guelph to balance out the demographic groups attending
both John McCrae and the new dual track school?
As an alternative to the proposed changes, is it possible to consider Priory Park as a
location for the 7 and 8 program rather than displacing a small pocket of students
from the middle of the John McCrae boundary? While the board wants schools to
have 7/8 programs that don't exceed 35% of the school population, being dual track
will change the nature of the school so that the higher number of 7 and 8 students will
matter less; the students in the intermediate division will be separated into two smaller
groups each comprising a much smaller percentage of the school's total population.
If that is not possible, I strongly urge you to consider housing the 7/8 program that
will move to John McCrae at Priory Park for several years until elementary students
currently attending John McCrae can finish their schooling there, with the new
boundary (in a revised form, hopefully) taking effect only for Junior Kindergarten
students in 2010, and adding grades each year. Grandfathering current John
McCrae elementary students is the only way to avoid undue additional stress on
students who have already had to adjust to change.
Information Received – Thank you
To Whom It May Concern,
I am writing you on the proposed changes to Victory Public School. I am disgusted just
thinking that my English speaking daughter is a minority in her own neighbourhood
school. When did speaking French become more important than speaking English? I
am at a complete loss here. I’m wondering what the school board and other parents
are thinking. This is an English speaking country...isn’t it??? English first and then
learn a second language once you have mastered English. Other subjects slide and
French is put first. The students have to make up what they missed by learning
French...it puts them behind the other students.
Also, if Victory goes all French, this means my daughter has to walk to Willow Road
School...give your head a major shake. She will only be eight years old. My babysitter
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picks up my daughter at Victory and walks her home. She does this with other children
in her care. There is no way she can walk all the way to Willow Road and she doesn’t
have enough car seats for the small children in her care to drive to Willow Road to
pick up my child. I am sure other parents will have this same problem.
I have spoke to other people on this subject that don’t live in our community and they
have the same response that I have...complete disbelief. They are stunned and can’t
understand how an English speaking neighbourhood child has to attend another
school across town because her parents believe speaking English first is more
important than being immersed in French. I sure hope this doesn’t take place and I
know I am not alone.
Information Received – Thank you
As a home owner in the area, whose children had the good fortune to walk to school
throughout their elementary and secondary years, I believe that it is crucial for children
to have the choice of either English of French Immersion schooling within the
neighbourhood.
According to the City of Guelph guidelines Victory school catchment area has the
perfect mix of housing; private homes and rental properties. This reinforces the need
to retain the community character by enabling children to walk to school and develop
friendships among their neighbours. This is particularly essential at the elementary
level.
Information Received
From October 21st to October 29th
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I am writing to voice my stong opposition to the proposed changes to Victory PS.
We moved to the neighbourhood to enjoy a community French and English school
that our children could attend. We purchased a home within walking distance and are
connected to the neighbourhoods and people surrounding our school. We have two
children attending the school; one who has some unique needs and has finally begun
to settle into the routine of his school and his friends at Victory.
We are not prepared to watch our family be up-rooted, transported and disconnected
by these absurd proposed changes. We will not stand by while our children
(potentially) attend two different schools. We will not be forced to take buses and cars
to school. We will loudly and publically make noise to have our voice heard on this
matter.
If this proposal is not in the best interests of the children who attend this school, then
whose interests are we really serving?
Information Only - Received
Dear Sir/Madam,
We come to know about the changes you planed to make in Victory Public School.
We would like to see Victory public School remain a community school accessible to
both English and French Immersion students.
Information Only - Received
My name is ________, I have children who attend John McCrae. Last year I moved
my family from ______ to Guelph. Before the move date I investigated all the French
Immersions schools in the city and also toured them. I found John McCrae to be the
best and therefore I moved within the district. The south end of Guelph is not a cheap
place to live and certainly is much more expensive then surrounding communities,
however I felt that my children’s education was worth the cost and made sure they
were getting the value. In the last month we have purchased a new home on
_________ and I put in a lot of effort to ensure that we were at the same school. If
their school is changed it will have negated all the time, effort, and money that I’ve put
in to this point. Please consider that not unlike working for adults, the children spend
a lot of time at school and changes can affect them significantly.
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Please consider this as you make these very important decisions on the future school
eligibility.
Information Only - Received
Hello,
Could you please provide me with following information/answers:
First, could you provide me with background information on the following Guiding
Principle: “Configurations of three to five grade 7 and 8 classes facilitate collaborative
teacher planning, teacher specialization in one or more curricular areas, and student
preparation for future school experiences” Specifically, I would like to know:
1.
Is this Guideline meant to be a target number of classes or a
minimum? Is it intended to be a total of Grade 7 and 8 classes or 3-5 Grade 7
classes and 3-5 Grade 8 classes?
2.
How was the number of 3-5 determined? What is triggered at that
number with regard to program delivery that would be lost with smaller numbers of
classes? (For example, do 3-5 classes provide the critical mass of students needed to
provide instrumental music programs, trained art teachers, and science and
technology labs)?
3.
What happens to the program delivery if smaller or larger numbers of
classes exist?
4.
What is the number of Grade 7/8 classes at Willow Road School?
What is the % of Grade 7/8 students at Willow?
Second, how robust are the projections for student enrollments through 2017 that are
presented in the Central Guelph (FI) elementary Accommodation Review – Report #2?
Specifically,
1.
How are the projections prepared and do they consider the historical
attrition rate for FI students? What attrition rate is used in the predictions based on the
existing enrollments in JK/SK/Grade 1?
2.
The North Guelph status quo projections show that the enrollment will
be 502 students greater than capacity by 2017. This is enough students to fill an
entire school. Again how robust are these numbers and, assuming they are sound,
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what planning is underway to accommodate those students beyond this FI
accommodation?
3.
The preliminary scenarios presented in Report #2 show several schools
being significantly over capacity. I realize that these are just preliminary but what is
the “guiding principle” with regard to over-capacity and at what point is it considered
”unacceptable” and therefore should not be considered a viable alternative unless
capital is allocated to expand the school’s capacity?
Third, could you please provide me with a copy of the completed valuation template
for King George completed for the review that resulted in the decision to close the
school for the Grade 7/8 FI students. How was this information incorporated into the
previous review (sorry I do not know the name of that accommodation review
process)? How is this valuation template being used in the current FI accommodation
process?
Fourth, have data been collected that address the following:
1.
Does the Board see a loss/gain of students to the Catholic School
Board when a neighborhood school changes either its dual track status (to FI only) or
its catchment area?
2.
Does the Board see an increase in incoming FI student enrollment
when a school changes from dual track to single track FI? (the logic being that
families elect FI to go to their local school?)
3.
Does the enrollment at single track FI school (for example Johnson and
McCrae) reflect the diversity of the communities they serve?
Fifth, please provide me with any and all documentation that has been prepared that
addresses the dual stream vs. single stream benefits/drawbacks. I would like a copy of
the “statement” that is referenced in Report #2 (page 66) and would also like the
supporting information with regard to the benefits and drawbacks.
Sixth, what is the preferred layout for grade k-8 schools with regard to the Grade 7-8
classes? Are they typically located in separate wings of the building to minimize
interaction with the younger students?
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Finally, what is the reason behind the plans to remove the portapack at FA Hamilton
(and the loss of 184 spaces)? Is it a financial decision based on maintenance
requirements?
Thank you. Could you please acknowledge that you have received my request for
information and provide an estimate for when the information will be available. I
realize that I have requested a lot of information but I expect that the ARC has already
pulled this information together as part of its work. I would be happy to go to the
Board office to pick up copies of these materials if that would facilitate your efforts to
get them to me. I am working with other parents to prepare a delegation to the Board
and we need this public information to provide meaningful input to the process.
Thank you for your inquiry. We have received your email and are
answering requests for information in the order that they are received.
We anticipate being able to reply to you with this information in
approximately a week.