General Questions/Concerns/Ideas about implementation

Every single child at Devonshire should be prepared to face a cohort split, and lose some friends to a different school. That is a major impact of Option C for the Near West; Devonshire students get split up.

Some children currently at Devonshire will face additional challenges next year such as:
-moving to a new school in a fledgling new EFI program with “who knows what” resources
-the possibility of attending 3 different elementary schools in 3 or 4 years
-being split from their siblings depending on what, if any, phase-in plan is implemented

I also am interested to hear what the parents of the children facing those additional challenges think. Unfortunately it may be hard for some parents to engage in this discussion until it is made clear which students are affected by them and which are not. It appears that we won’t know that until the Board defines the boundaries, and makes the phase-in plans, if any, clear to the community.

Well, I'm looking forward to the coming changes (have been since the interim solution last year. This has always been my preferred option). I'm actually not that concerned about all the items Lisa listed above...

Our youngest, Cameron, would be in JK at Connaught this year with our middle one, Sydney, in grade 5 at Devonshire. Two siblings in two schools. Because of the interim solution, we held Cameron back from JK this year. Even still, we're still looking at two siblings in two schools if this solution is phased in. If it's not phased in, our girls will be together in the same school for a year before Sydney goes to Fisher. One point for no phase in as far as I'm concerned but splitting the girls up was never a big deal in our house so I'm good either way.

The "who knows what" resources argument hurdle (fair point Lisa) would be the same if it was Fisher Park getting the program. A new school/program is a new school/program... Why would Fisher have any better resources?

If there is no phase in, Sydney will go from Devonshire to Connaught to Fisher over three years. Not ideal, but not 'three elementary schools in 3-4 years' since Fisher is a middle school. I suspect Sydney could handle it but like most parents, I would be ok with a phase in (notice I'm not saying I'm requesting one) giving her just the one transition (Devonshire to Fisher). I will ask her and see what she says since it is her that will have to deal with it... If she's ok with the extra move, so much the better. If not, we'll manage. Being a parent who went to First Ave (JK-5), Mutchmor (5-6), Hopewell (7-8) then high school, transitions aren't really the touchy subject with me that they are with some parents but I understand the concern. Update: With Devonshire changing up the classes every year, Sydney hasn't had the same group of friends in her class for more than a year anyway, so she's fine with the extra transition and in fact wants the year at Connaught.

As for splitting the cohort, we can't avoid that. The school is over population. Rather than look at it as a negative, how about making it an opportunity for our kids to make new friends? It's not like they'll never see their friends again...

I'm wondering what this is going to do to the parent population at Connaught. I was meeting with the School Travel Planning team today and the public health nurse for Devonshire and Connaught said Connaught doesn't really have a school council. How are they going to deal with the influx of active Devonshire parents and how can we engage some of those other, perhaps more reluctant, parents in school discussions without stepping on toes? I think the tricky part will be integrating everyone, kids and parents alike, in a harmonious way.

Another thing that has me slightly worried is the Parkdale situation for Civic kids. Those on and off ramps are scary at the best of times let alone during snow/rain. There is always the Fairmont route but pedestrians (kids and adults alike) always take the most direct path given the choice...

No, this solution doesn't please everyone, but there wasn't a magic bullet to this problem. (Sorry, that rambled a bit : )

Using the data in the slides from a different thread, and looking over the projected student numbers for 2014, the OCDSB assumes there will be 72 new EFI students moving into the neighbourhood before Sept 2014 school year. This is spread over SK-Grade 6. How realistic is this?

Compared to future projections, they assume next year will be particularly high. Why?
If things stay as status quo (no Option C), they'd assume those 72 students would need a space at Devonshire only, with Option C those 72 students are spread between Connaught and Devonshire. Is there something special about 2014 that is used in the projections?

It is really hard to guess on how to make a strong EFI program at Connaught if you go only by the numbers. At this point, I don't personally feel the board has provided quality numbers, unless someone can better explain the data. In particular the big jump in 2014 that is not shown in future projections.

I don't think the push should be for all grades if the numbers per grade don't make sense in year 1. I think time would be better spent understanding what each grade needs to be a successful EFI program. That means good teachers, strong learning materials, access to French books in the library, continued access to any extra-curricular French programs (but are there any? Are sports teams, knitting club, music class done in French or English at Devonshire?).

Teachers often have a lot of their own stuff for their classrooms, this moves with them when they change schools. I would assume any teachers hired at Connaught will most likely have previous teaching experience and bring with them experience, knowledge and appropriate material for their classrooms.

The best resource for what is needed for excellent EFI are the teachers and the principal at Devonshire to answer some of these questions. Why not ask Robin (who is representing the teachers for School Council) what she would suggest are the important questions to be asking at this stage and at later stages. Start putting together a list of concerns and present those to Jennifer McKenzie. These concerns and observations are true for any EFI program - regardless of where it is implemented.

I don't know how much I will be affected, but I do know I can find some sand toys etc around our place suitable for the JK/SK crowd, as well as some gently used books both in French and English that I've been hanging onto longer than I should. If we could find out what resources the EFI program will need, AND what the ENG program could also use, I have a lot of faith in the generosity of Devonshire to make sure our friends, both old and new are helped on this new path.

Sorry, I'm still in argument mode. If anyone is interested, the last Working Group meeting will be Monday the 11th, starting at 7:00 PM in the library at Elmdale. We will make sure there is time for questions from the public, and try to figure out how parents can be involved with the transition plans.
Draft recommendation for discussion is to start with a JK-3 EFI program at Connaught, with the catchment borders at Fairmont/ Merton, Scott, Holland and Carling. The EFI population for those grades would be about 140 and the ENG population about 210 with the addition of 43 students from Elmdale's English program.
The board's projection show that Connaught would have one spare classroom in September, so in theory moving grade 4s is also a possibility, but..... As Meg pointed out, the projections they're working with have a net increase of 75ish EFI kids in the Devonshire/ Connaught catchment for September, so they may or may not need that space. Planning prefers to be cautious and leave themselves lots of space for contingencies, so there may be some pushback to moving grade 4s. Unless we can convince them to do some renos this summer to add 2 classrooms.

The proposal as being put forth by the working group, including the phase in as recommended, leaves my family with 2 different children, in 2 different Jk-6 schools for 3 years! How do I as parent fully support the new EFI program as a volunteer, fundraiser, etc, while being fair to both children? Not impressed!

Lisa, you've highlighted one of the difficulties that this whole process is fraught with - the virtual impossibility of adequately balancing out the needs of various members of our community.

I am very sensitive to the issue that you've raised (you're not the only one) of splitting up families with a phased-in approach, and to concerns about not starting off with a full JK-6 program. These same issues were raised by many Devonshire families when the possibility of a "seed program" (ie JK - 3) at Cambridge was being considered.

On the other had, we (meaning the reps) have also heard from parents of the current grade 5 children whose children would be in 3 different schools in 3 years if we don't phase in and from parents of children in the jr. grades who feel the class sizes of the jr grades are simply too small.

This whole process is a very fine balancing act. I am at a bit of a loss on how to meet all of these needs and would love to hear any suggestions and ideas people have on how to address this.

I would also like to remind everyone that the Working Group recommendation still needs to be voted on by the Board of Trustees. It may go forward as is, it may get modified, or we could be told to go back to the drawing board.