DISCOVERY PASSAGE SCHOOL CLOSU RE CONSULTATION PROCESS Late Submissions
CONSULTATION INDEX
DATE DESCRIPTION 03-05-2016 Claire Metcalfe 03-01-2016 Curtis and Amanda Smith
i Lee-Ann Kruse
From: Claire Metcalfe
Trolly kids All of the students in our district are standing on the train tracks and there is an out of control trolly headed for them all. Do we toss a few in the way (the elementary school kids who will also be tossed again when it comes to rebuilding the high school) to prevent them from all being hurt? Or do we ask no one to budge and see who survives? This is a morality question that has been presented to the trustees before, and I believe at a very appropriate time.
Lers do something different. Pick an answer that isn't already proposed. I propose that we ask them to all step away from the tracks and let the train (Christy Clark) go along on it's merry way. I know the solution is not that simple. There has to be another way of building new schools in our district and supporting our childrens education other than following the paths that other districts are, just because it is what we are supposed to. Our district staff and trustees are smart, creative leaders of our community, and I would like for them to come up with another way to go about this. Still staying within the regulations set forth by the province but coming up with a solution that use preventative solutions instead of the reactive ones the Liberal government wants to force on us.
I am not an expert and I don't think any of the parents that you are asking for advice are either. I think that most parents ( as you could see from the turn out at the last meetings) feel that these schools will close. We feel that this process is the mandatory job posting when the employer already has someone picked for the job. Schools across our province are being closed everywhere. Is it solving the problem? Maybe. We are keeping the machine running, at a better efficacy. Just like Walmart. Are we looking at the quality of the product? No, if you look at the number of kids who drop out, and the number that continue on to post secondary education, I don't believe you are. Students now can graduate with credits. Does not mean they can add, though. Talk to any business owner in this town and most of our products doesn't even know how to handle the penny conversion. Nor do they understand that a job is a commitment. I think we should want the majority to graduate. Even better, for our high school graduates to move on to college, and university to become innovators and creative thinkers. To become people who will help turn our town back into somewhere people desire to live, work and raise their families
The mills are gone. The logging companies that reinvest in communities are gone. Walmart is not going to save us. These children are our future.
In your financial statements you show a continued growth of cash assets. In 2008 SD72's cash assets total $12,048,367 and have grown to $18,238,760 in 2015. I understand that you are operating in a deficit budget but that is your budget. You show a surplus in all of the previous 8 years except for one. In 2010 you had an actual deficit of $-1 ,242,701. All the other years are surplus 2008 =$1,457,040 2009 =$308,502 2011 =$844,216 2012 =$495,660 2013 = $736,728 2014 = $1,108,595 2015 = $723,395 This shows you are good at working within your budget and for that I do applaud you. But I believe you can do better with the quality of our children's education. When will this be reinvested in quality education? \ 1 I am not fighting the closure of Discovery Passage because my children will be there forever. My youngest will be entering grade 5 in this up coming year. Whatever school they attend, I believe they will be fine. They have support from home and that means the most. They have also had a nurturing and supportive experience in elementary that has encouraged them to be lifetime learners. I am fighting for all the children in Campbell River, now and for the future children who deserve the same opportunity. I am fighting for them to have a small school in their community, hopefully on this side of the bridge. There are studies showing that the best size for an elementary school is 150 students. 25 per class. BC education is following the United States and I don't know why. We are also following them many years behind and not learning from their mistakes. Many states are now realizing that the decline in student achievement is due to overcrowded, over sized schools.
If you truly have not made up your mind and you are open to options, please take a few minutes read the following links, look inside yourselves and answer the following questions. https:llwww.edb.utexas.edu/hsns/HSNSbrief1.pdf http://www.hks.harvard.edu/pepg/PDF/Papers/PEPG05-05Hylden.pdf How important is school size? I GreatKids
1. Why not change boundaries? You say that changing school boundaries will not address our enrollment issues but has anyone spoken to the parents in Campbellton? When their school was closed, they were promised a bus. They had it for one year and have been fighting to get it back ever since. Their walk to Ripple Rock is not a safe one. If the boundaries were to change to include them (as the bus drives through Campbellton to get to Discovery Passage anyways), I am quite sure they would happily come to Discovery Passage.
2. Why not Close larger schools. The results of several recent studies indicate that small schools may be the remedy for lots of what is wrong with public education. Small schools can reduce the negative effects of poverty, reduce violence, and increase parent involvement and student accountability. Are these not some of the problems that cedar students face? With the implementation of the new curriculum will you not be looking for community involvement? I volunteer a lot in our school in part because it is small. I do not have the training, funds, supplies nor is there the space for me to volunteer teaching in a larger school. Campbell River has an enrollment capacity of 2807 elementary students and we currently are at 2127 students. That leaves 680 empty spaces. Closing Discovery Passage and Oyster River alone is not going to solve the problem. You will be closing at least one more school if you want to follow the liberals agenda to get the funding you say you want to re build Cedar. Which school will it be? Almost all the schools are aged and in need of serious repair or rebuild. If you close Cedar and Sandowne it brings you closer to your goal of capacity. Close the school board office and relocate to a school. These 3 properties are in an area where they would sell the fastest and for the most money. Then reconfigure all the boundaries so students attend the closest school to their home (I am not saying send Cedar students across town to another school) and you should be closer to capacity. Invest the savings back into all schools. If they are full and properly renovated to be efficient, the investment will be worth it. Children and parents in this district deserve a choice of large or small school to attend. By closing both of the small schools in our district, you are robbing us of this choice.
3. Invest in an opportunity with equipment you already have. Discovery Passage School is in need of repairs that are almost the same cost as a complete rebuild. Could the school be torn down, the property subdivided into 2 portions? If we have portables that are used against the classroom numbers, why not install them at Disco Passage and 2 create a smaller, more efficient school that can withstand an earthquake? We have our children in a small school for a reason and I think our district should offer at least one small school as an option for parents.
4. Marketing Schools that provide before and after school care and preschools are desired schools. There was a non-profit, non-secretarial, pre school in town, Humpty Dumpty Nursery School that was started in 1973. For the last 8 years that it was open, it needed to get into a different space. They tried every year to get a space in any of the schools in the district and they were told no every year. Sadly they are now closed. There was another that tried to get into Discovery Passage, Apples and Pears. Why are you turning away appropriate revenue? Does the board know how many user groups are turned away every year? Yes, an empty classroom counts against us to the province but what if we could have a revenue stream that was enough for us to not need to rely so heavily on their decisions?
Thank you for your time, and consideration, Claire Metcalfe Parent, PAC member and volunteer at Discovery Passage Elementary School
3 From: Curtis Smith-Coastal Wilderness Adventures [[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2016 9:30 PM To: Susan Wilson; Ted Foster; Richard Franldin; Daryl Hagen; John Kerr; Gail Kirschner; Joyce McMann Cc: [email protected]; Amanda Smith; [email protected] [email protected] Subject: Discovery Passage
Trustees,
I was too upset to speak at tonight's meeting after reading the responses to our previous meeting's questions, that were only sent to us a few hours before tonight's meeting. The evasive, and robot like responses gave no feeling that this is a process. Tonight's discussion and words from some ofyou Trustees that were willing to speak gave some hope that there is care for our children. We all understand that this is a hard decision but we are feeling very bullied that we as parents and community members are made to come up with possible solutions. Maybe I am speaking to something that is not true and that you are all going over solutions that might work which we are not privy to, but this is how we all feel.
As you can hear from a lot ofour questions, concerns and reiterated vocal points tonight, much ofour concern is with having our children move to Ripple Rock as a solution. None ofus want our little school closed, however the real issue is not the building or structure we are in, but the culture and atmosphere that Discovery Passage staff, ~AC, and students have created. My wife and I have a 5 year old that has started his first experience with SD72 at Discovery Passage. After doing 2 years at Pre-school, we thought the transition would be very easy, however it was not. Discovery Passage with only 70 some odd students was extremely overwhelming for him. We could not imagine what a school of close to 300 would be like. We were not alone, as most morning there would be 3 or 4 kindergarten students clinging to their parents balling their eyes out. 3 or 4 you might say is nothing, but this is almost half ofthem!
After a few months, he has now adjusted greatly, and a lot ofthis was due to the older kids and teachers taking him under their wing. I feel that we would still be dealing with crying every morning in a larger school. I don't care what your statistics say, a school of250+ is not a place for a 5 year old to start out. As Mr.Franklin noted this evening, many studies he's seen reflect that teachers and connection within the school staff mean more than the size ofthe school itself, and I fully believe this from a learning prospective, but not from a social perspective which is a VERY large part ofhow these small children develop. Anyway, this brings me to my main point ofwhy I'm writing tonight. 1 My wife and I were the ones that suggested that Discovery Passage move to EDM as a dual track school. This would solve many problems the parents are having and we believe would be a very well received solution if closing Discovery Passage is your only choice. There is currently a Bus that comes out to our neighbourhoods, for EDM students. Possibly a larger bus would be needed to accommodate our kids, but the bus is coming already and that eliminates the need to add another entire bus and route. EDM has more room. 40% vacancy compared to 33% noted in the documents handed to us. The response that came within the Fact Sheet released tonight before the meeting speaks to my EDM question, noting that "Early French Immersion, continue to be offered without an enrolment cap" as being a reason not to move our school to EDM. I would challenge this, saying that if EDM enrolment were to go up in the future that there are two options at that time. A portable could be brought in at that time, or kids could go to Ecole Willow Point which also currently has room. Also as noted in the response, French Immersion is said to be a "Special Program" so I assume that funding is greater and iffunding was needed in the future to accommodate more French enrolment that it would be easier obtained. Also as noted by Mr.Hagen tonight, enrolment is dropping in Campbell River, so this should include French Immersion as well, and therefor mean that EDM's vacancy will only increase in the future.
EDM has some very big perks for the Discovery Passage kids:
• It is a small school with a very similar feel to Discovery Passage. Current parents ofDiscovery Passage and parents that have moved to surrounding areas specifically to have their children ofthe future go to a smaller school will accept a dual track small school choice of EDM, much more openly than the large Ripple Rock choice • EDM offers some very similar PAC and School created programs to Discovery Passage currently, which is not the case at Ripple Rock. Also with the option ofdual track, we could keep our current Discovery Passage programs in place with the students without disrupting the French students of EDM, which will be an issue at Ripple Rock with new staff and new PAC • EDM is currently (tonight actually) fund raising, within the PAC for a much needed playground which we could offer them by bringing our Discovery Passage Playground with us • Our current teachers and support staff could move with our children offering them very little disruption and a very seamless transition, virtually we could have no change except the facility for our kids. Being able to move with our very loved Discovery Passage teachers is something that would be monumental for the students as well as us parents • The Bus which I've spoke to already, is a big relief for parents as it is already in place with a defined route. We don't need to worry ifthere willI be a Bus, when it will arrive and how long it's going to take to get our kids home. We see it come by our houses already and know that it will work well with the benefit of saving SD72 money and organization ofa new route and bus • This is a big one as it's been brought up over and over. The Parking for those that want to drive their kids is infinitely better at EDM. Ripple Rock parking is a major issue, no matter what your studies say about adequacy. It is not adequate ....Period. • The distance from our homes is very much the same between going to Ripple Rock vs going to EDM.
You've asked us to come up with solutions that might work. This seems like something that could work very well to appease everyone and I'm beyond upset that it was tossed aside in the responses received from the "Fact Sheet & Responses to Community Questions" that we were sent this afternoon. You keep urging us to give you something that you can work with so that you don't have to make these hard decisions. No one of us is denying that these decisions are hard for all involved, but we ask you that when we come up with something that might be a solution that you take the time to go over it in detail to see ifit will work. Myself and my wife, along with some other parents at tonights meeting, believe this could be a solution that works very well and we feel that
2 many other Discovery Passage parents might feel the same ifit were to be explored by yourselves a bit more and put forth as a better solution if Discovery Passage is ultimately decided to close.
Please think about this. Our kids deserve something that fits and disrupts them the least.
Curtis and Amanda Smith Coastal Wilderness Adventures
Vancouver Island Sportfishing Charters IV campbell River British Columbia, canada 1.250.205.0022 www.coastwild.com
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