Bayview School Presentation to Accommodation Review Committee

Bayview School Presentation to Accommodation Review Committee – February 27, 2008

Thank you for providing me the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Norm Bell, I live at 150 3rd Avenue East, Owen Sound. My son Reed is in Grade 6 and has been at Bayview since 2002. I am here on behalf of the parents of Bayview School.

We asked to speak to the ARC tonight so that we could put forward the perspective of the Bayview parents, as you consider what to do regarding school accommodation on the East Side of Owen Sound.

We have structured our presentation using the Bluewater District School Boards ‘Valuation Framework’, and will endeavor to follow it as we proceed.

The first criteria in your valuation framework is the ‘value of the school to the student’. The ten minutes allotted for our entire presentation isn’t enough to deal with this one point much less the others.

Bayview School was built in 1947 to serve the growing East Hill neighbourhood of Owen Sound. As this area of the city grew Bayview School grew along with it, with expansions taking place in 1953, 54, 1965, 1968 and 1987.

The school has undergone major renovations with recent roof work (2006) and new windows in 1987 and 1992 and major interior work as recently as this past summer.

To those of us whose children attend Bayview School the excellent structural condition of the school is not something that we spend a lot of time thinking about…that’s because Bayview is much more than bricks and mortar, ducts and drains.

Bayview is the heart of our east side neighbourhood. If children are our future, then Bayview School is the portal through which they will view and ultimately shape that future. Bayview is the first and most important educational step for the children who attend it, a step that will shape their attitudes towards education, authority and life for many years to come.

I’m pleased to say that we as parents are constantly surprised, amazed and gratified by the dedication and excellence of the professional teaching staff at Bayview School. Our children receive a first class education, which I am sure is true of all of the schools under review here tonight.

But at Bayview, they receive more than reading, writing and arithmetic. They receive caring, compassion, and a sense of place, a sense of belonging. The students at Bayview know that it’s not my school or your school; it is their school and they treat it as such with a sense of pride and caring. As for the ‘value of Bayview to our community’, it’s hard to imagine the community without the school or vice versa. The two are inseparable.

Bayview School, as it exists today, is what drew many of us to this quiet east-side neighbourhood. Real estate sales in this area are strong in part because of the proximity to Bayview School. Such is the schools reputation that many families with school age children have relocated to our neighbourhood so that their children can attend Bayview. We also have many second generation students attending Bayview, and a few of our teachers are Bayview graduates. At present we have one parent on our School Advisory Council whose kids won’t begin attending Bayview for two more years. That’s dedication.

What other value does Bayview have to the community? Again, I’d like to come back to the sense of place that Bayview instills in its students.

To establish the ‘value of the school to the board’, I think we have to come back to the bricks and mortar aspect of Bayview. At this point, our school is in the best overall physical condition of all of the schools being considered in this study. While nothing can be ruled out, the building does not fall into the ‘Prohibitive to Repair’ category as defined by the Ministry of Education. Bayview is fully accessible, and has plenty of room for expansion. At present, Bayview could theoretically accept the entire student population of Alexandra School (167 FTE) without the need for construction (486 – 281.5 = 204 > 167). This has the immediate effect of achieving >80% loading so as to allow topup and rural funding. However, there would be the obvious parking and bus and car drop-off congestion issues as were noted in the previous review.

There are negative aspects to Bayview gaining additional students as identified in the previous Accommodation Review. One is the parking and bus turnaround situation and another is the inability to hold full school assemblies because of the multi-purpose room size. The Board was encouraged in the School Community Councils 2004 Accommodation Review document to deal with the issues. We reiterate our willingness as parents to sacrifice and move the front playground at the school to make room for new parking and a better turnaround and supplement the current +/- 37 parking spots. Traffic flow cannot be improved. We understand that the City of Owen Sound originally disallowed the second entrance onto 6th Street in favour of the current car pull-off and stairs. The 6th Street A East is only 1.5 lanes and thus would continue to be congested, though with more school parking the problem may not be as significant.

Beyond the building itself, Bayview School is a shining example of the kind of school the board is constantly promoting; a focal point for the local community observing the highest level of academic excellence.

Bayview’s presence adds value to the local economy. The first and most obvious benefit is the jobs it provides for teachers and staff. Many families have relocated to this neighbourhood specifically so their children can attend Bayview. Bayview is also home to the Early Years Centre, and as such provides a valuable continuum for many students and families.

In closing, I’d just like to say that we realize that change is inevitable but we’d like to encourage the ARC and in turn the Bluewater District School Board to make those changes with as much sensitivity as possible. The building condition reports seem to conclude that Alexandra and Strathcona should close. Both buildings fall into the ‘Prohibitive to Repair’ category. Therefore a new school is needed. New schools seem neither possible on the Alexandra site to the limited size (2.6ac) and existing municipal easements nor at smaller Strathcona site (2.0ac). We understand that a new elementary school requires 6.0ac according to the Boards ‘rule of thumb’ (along with upwards to 60 parking spots, turnaround loop and 75’ setbacks). The mega-school idea some have suggested seems out of the question based on the Ministry of Education’s preference for elementary schools of between 450 and 500 students. Therefore, we at Bayview suggest a possible solution as follows:

1) We support the formation of three K-8 schools one of them being a new JK-8 French Immersion school beside OSCVI which is in the future growth area of Owen Sound. This would accommodate French Immersion students from Sydenham, also allowing grade 7&8 french immersion students to remain at the same school rather than transferring to Hillcrest. The space freed up in Sydenham School could then accommodate Alexandra students. Grades 7&8’s would remain at their home schools (Bayview and Sydenham). Strathcona would close.