Meeting Notes

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OCTOBER 28, 2013
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BRC – PUBLIC MTG #2
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ST eugene – School Gym
Meeting called by / Loretta Notten, Superintendent Area 1
PURPOSE / 2nd Public Meeting for the All Saints, St. Eugene and Father Serra Boundary Review
Facilitator / Debby Culotta, Principal – St. Andrew
Note taker / Barb Leporati and Dolores Rios
Attendees / Representatives for each school, Loretta Notten, Trustee Peter Jakovcic, David Paltser, Barbara Leporati, John Hlady
Meeting was opened by Loretta who reviewed the process for those who were not present at the 1st public meeting. She also introduced members of the committee.
Loretta reiterated that the oversubscription at All Saints is the trigger of this process and that any decision to impose a fixed boundary will not affect those already enrolled in this group of schools. All impacts would be on a go forward basis.
A quick poll was taken by show of hands as to how many from each school group were in attendance. The majority of the audience was from All Saints, St. Eugene was well represented although with less and Father Serra was represented by approximately 5 to 7 parents.
David P. gave the Planning presentation of the information contained in the binder again for those who had missed the first meeting. Each scenario was explained and was available on screen via a power point presentation. The preferred Planning option remains Scenario # 2 to balance enrolment.
Comments from the St. Eugene group:
Scenario #2 would provide the best solution with the best balance assuming an addition to the existing facility.
Comments from the Father Serra group:
Scenario #2 seems to provide the best balanced solution.
No Comments from the All Saints group.
Questions and comments from the public included:
Are current and future development trends considered in the projections?
-The planning process for projections takes all current and future known development into consideration.
Are grade-to-grade enrolment changes accounted for?
-The projected enrolment for each school and each scenario takes historic grade-to-grade enrolment trends into account
When will the St. Eugene addition be started and completed? How large, FDK only?
-The Board has approved an FDK addition as well as a larger addition to accommodate the boundary change and to remove portables from the site. The FDK rooms are scheduled to be ready for the 2014-15 school year. The larger addition is subject to Ministry approval and is anticipated for completion in 2016-17.
We cannot wait to address the boundary issue until the funding is approved because the boundary review is an important part of a business case to the Ministry for approval of funding.
Why wasn’t All Saints built bigger?
-Funding models at the time allowed for a certain size to be built. There is also a preferred size of elementary school (450 pupil places to 600 pupil places) and All Saints is already larger.
The size of the school was addressed at a community meeting at the school last year and the request from the community at that time was to enforce boundaries at the school so that enrolment could be reduced.
Is the Board looking into parents who falsify their address to get around boundaries?
-The Board is aware this may be an issue at some schools and is working diligently to alleviate this problem.
It was asked that any comments or concerns that had not been voiced be directed to the appropriate school committee members to ensure consideration in the report to Board.
A large group of parents from the La Rush area were not in favour of Scenario # 2 and had the following concerns or questions:
-The area is established and people have moved into the area with the understanding that they would be able to attend All Saints school.
-Why should this area be excluded when students from well outside the immediate area have been admitted to All Saints in the past?
The current administration at the school has worked diligently to solve this problem however projections still indicate that a significant number of families still reside in the current catchment area.
-Transportation will not always continue, what happens when there is none.
The committee can recommend for transportation to continue for grand-fathered children however the final word is ultimately a Board decision.
-Splitting up friends so parents have to drive their children to play with friends from school.
Existing students will be grand-fathered in the school so as not to disrupt current arrangements.
-Why can’t the cut-off to the south of the school?
All schools affected by the south boundary (St. Gregory and Our Lady os Sorrows) are also over-subscribed and are facing other accommodation issues.
Another concerned parent related the story of trying to get her daughter into one of the central Etobicoke schools. She was able to admit her child into her school of choice in Grade 6. It was determined that she lived closer to St. Maurice school and that this was the reason for her difficulty. She also made reference to the fact that the neighbourhood was an aging one and concurred that there was a problem with registrants from outside the immediate area gaining access to the school.
Students from St. Eugene spoke on the merits of their school environment, the family atmosphere of acceptance and the friendships they had formed. They also indicated that they had experienced no problem with bussing to the school.
A parent from St Eugene asked if French Immersion could be offered at their school as well to help balance program offerings. Both Loretta and the Trustee indicated that there was on ongoing review of French Immersion Program distribution and that factors including available space and available resources had to be considered.
In closing Principal Lind Alonzi, St. Eugene, thanked everyone for attending and took the opportunity to highlight some of the characteristics of a small school.
The BRC will prepare a report and staff will prepare a separate report for the Board. Community members wishing to voice their opinions before the Board will have an opportunity to attend the following Board meeting. The final report on this review will be submitted at the next available Board Meeting. All dates will be posted on the Board’s web page and communications will sent as well.