megk
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Post by megk on Mar 18, 2013 9:47:29 GMT -5
Meeting 2 will be held on Wednesday March 20, 7:30pm, in the teacher's lounge. There will be a few parent reps from Elmdale joining us to discuss various long-term solutions and offer their feedback on them. The discussion will surround the scenarios Laura has already run, plus we may come up with some new ones.
This meeting is for alternative ideas and will not include Fisher Park K-8 or WE Gowling.
Everyone is welcome to join us.
(A broader meeting of all the groups will happen after March 27).
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megk
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Post by megk on Mar 18, 2013 10:05:16 GMT -5
Here are the scenarios to date. These scenarios are based on numbers only and do not take into consideration some of the parents key issues, including walkability, school route/major street crossings, specific boundary changes (new North/South boundaries vs community boundaries - like 'Civic Hospital'):
Scenario 1: Grade 6 for Elmdale and Devonshire go to Fisher Park, Fisher becomes Grade 6-8
Outcome: Insufficient longer-term to fully alleviate pressures at Devonshire and Elmdale, Fisher works
but approaches full capacity by 2016
Scenario 2: Grade 5-6 EFI for Elmdale and Devonshire go to Fisher Park, Fisher becomes Grade 5-8 EFI
Outcome: Is still insufficient to alleviate capacity problems at Devonshire and Elmdale
Scenario 3: Scenario 1 (Grade 6 to Fisher) plus Elmdale English moves to Connaught (including Grade 6
English), Devonshire East of RR moves to Cambridge for new EFI (assume 20% of Devonshire impacted)
Outcome: Borderline - Devonshire and Elmdale remain tight
Scenario 4: OCDSB Proposed Scenario - Elmdale and Devonshire EFI Gr 6 to Fisher Park for Sept 2013
and New Fisher JK-5 EFI program for Sept 2014 with new boundaries
Outcome: 2013 not workable to meet enrolment pressures, beyond that Fisher and Elmdale overcapacity
Scenario 5: Grade 6 for Elmdale, Devonshire and Connaught go to Fisher Park, Fisher becomes Grade 6-
8, Connaught becomes joint English / EFI with changed boundaries
Outcome: Preliminary estimates appear to work. More analysis needed to look at precise geographical divisions
Scenario 6: McNabb as a new EFI program (estimated capacity: 300)
Eastern Devonshire and Western Elgin region moved to McNabb (assume 30% EFI from each school)
Elmdale English split between Hilson and Connaught (40/60 ratio assumed)
Eastern Elmdale EFI moved to Devonshire (assume 10%)
Grade 6 does not go to Fisher
Outcome: Devonshire still overcapacity (would need a higher ratio to McNabb), Elmdale borderline.
Hilson, Connaught, Elgin and McNabb work
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Post by kmacey on Mar 18, 2013 21:34:44 GMT -5
thanks for posting these. Looks like lots of work has been done.
The fisher park sub-group is looking at Scenario 4 more closely. Some of what we are looking at includes a closer look at the space available within Fisher Park school as we feel there is likely more class space that what the board considered. We are also looking options such as consideration of a a single cohort JK - 8 option rather than having it operate as a single cohort for Jk - 6 and then become a feeder school for 7 - 8. This would free up space within the school. I won't be at this meeting on Wed so I just wanted the group to be aware that there may be ways in which scenario 4 can be modified to address the capacity issues.
Kristin
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megk
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Post by megk on Mar 19, 2013 7:08:54 GMT -5
Thanks Kristin!
At a different meeting this past Sunday night, one Fisher Park scenario modification was mentioned, Devonshire & Elmdale become JK-Gr3 schools and Fisher Park Gr4-8... Are you looking into various configurations such as that? That would take the pressure off Fisher Park from having to put in modifications for JK/SK class space and dedicated playground. I don't think Laura has run the numbers for that scenario, but we plan to ask her to.
General -
From what we've seen so far, there can't be just one school adding EFI, the numbers just don't work. We want to avoid going through this all again in a few years if possible. If Fisher Park becomes part of the solution, an additional school such at Connaught would still need to also add an EFI stream into the school.
While McNabb could work, it affects the Devonshire zone with the least number of students and would involve crossing Bronson, which is not an option unless the city puts in safer walking routes, more lights and crossing guards, etc.
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Post by ghiggins on Mar 19, 2013 12:27:30 GMT -5
I was going to ask why Option 4 (fisher as a K-6 school - plus 7&8) didn't work, considering the boundaries could be redone in a way for better distribution of kids in EFI. I'm surprised to hear that adding 1 new EFI school does not meet the need. I assume the number of classrooms in FP is being considered if we needed multiple rooms for each grade. This seems like another reason why the province should allow the St. Mary's school be used by the OCDSB while the Catholic board currently doesn't seem to need that space. It's in the zone and built for elementary. EFI at Connaught is good too but I thought their space was limited. Maybe Connaught could be EFI and all of the english programs could be combined at one school - Cambridge or Hilson? I note that crossing Bronson would also be a problem for those west of Cambridge.
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megk
Junior Member
Posts: 92
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Post by megk on Mar 19, 2013 14:54:42 GMT -5
Just some random notes:
Hilson currently has English, MFI and Gifted programs. I was told by an Elmdale parent the school does not have free space to take all the English, but according to the documents it would, so it is hard to know. I think the MFI enrollment is set to increase, so empty class space could be misleading since each year MFI grows.
Cambridge has a very specific demographic of English as a First Language students. The school and community around Cambridge want to keep the school as a spot that is welcoming to new Canadians. We are trying to respect their wishes when we go over the numbers and possibilities. There appears to be a need for more MFI programs in the community too and I've wondered if MFI would be a fit there.
Option 4: Based on the numbers, in 2014 Fisher Park would jump to 120.5% capacity, Devonshire drop to 80.0% capacity and Elmdale at 105.4% capacity. These are based on the boundaries supplied by the OCDSB, the updated values are on their website now.
I have a data packet of all the numbers and the individual scenarios. Laura will go over these on Wednesday and can clarify things then. I'll see if there is a way to share that document online here.
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megk
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Posts: 92
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Post by megk on Mar 20, 2013 10:32:47 GMT -5
Updates to the scenarios, assumes Devonshire can handle capacity of 370 students (because of the new classrooms added for 2012/2013 school year).
Scenario 1
Elmdale English split between Hilson and Connaught (44/54 ratio assumed with assumption that E1, E2 and E3 go to Hilson and E4 and E5 go to Connaught)
Eastern Elmdale EFI (assume 10%) moved to new dual-track program at Connaught (E3 + E2 split down Holland)
Connaught becomes a dual track program - 25% of Devonshire EFI go to Connaught
Grade 6 does not go to Fisher
Outcome: Might be able to scrape by with this scenario (assumes new 370 capacity is accurate at Devonshire)
Scenario 2
Grade 6 for Elmdale, Devonshire and Connaught go to Fisher Park, Fisher becomes Grade 6-8, Connaught becomes joint English / EFI with changed boundaries
Changed boundaries - Assume 25% of Elmdale (EFI and English) and 25% of Devonshire EFI move to Connaught
Outcome: Preliminary estimates appear to work. More analysis needed to look at precise geographical divisions
Scenario 3
Scenario 2 (Grade 6 to Fisher) plus Elmdale English moves to Connaught (including Grade 6 English), Devonshire East of RR moves to Cambridge for new dual track EFI (assume 20% of Devonshire impacted)
Outcome: Appears workable
Scenario 4
McNabb as a new EFI program (estimated capacity: 300)
Eastern Devonshire and Western Elgin region moved to McNabb (assume 30%
EFI from each school)
Elmdale English split between Hilson and Connaught (44/54 ratio assumed with assumption that E1, E2 and E3 go to Hilson and E4 and E5 go to Connaught)
Eastern Elmdale EFI moved to Devonshire (E3 + E2 split down Holland)
Grade 6 does not go to Fisher
Outcome: Devonshire still overcapacity (would need a higher ratio to McNabb), Elmdale borderline. Hilson, Connaught, Elgin and McNabb work
Scenario 5
Grade 6 for Elmdale and Devonshire go to Fisher Park, Fisher becomes Grade 6-8
Outcome: Insufficient longer-term to fully alleviate pressures at Devonshire and Elmdale, Fisher works but approaches full capacity 2016
Scenario 6
Grade 5-6 EFI for Elmdale and Devonshire go to Fisher Park, Fisher becomes Grade 5-8 EFI
Outcome: Is still insufficient to alleviate capacity problems, particularly at Elmdale
Scenario 7
OCDSB Proposed Scenario - Elmdale and Devonshire EFI Gr 6 to Fisher Park for Sept 2013 and New Fisher JK-5 EFI program for Sept 2014 with new boundaries
Outcome: 2013 not workable to meet enrolment pressures, beyond that Fisher and Elmdale overcapacity
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