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NOTICE OF MEETING Vancouver School Board Secretary-Treasurer's Office Committee II: February 13, 2015 Stacy Robertson Mike Lombardi Patti Bacchus Penny Noble Steve Cardwell, Superintendent of Schools Dear Sir or Madam: Notice of Meeting A Meeting of the Planning and Facilities Committee (Committee II) will be held in Room 120 of the Education Centre, 1580 West Broadway, Vancouver, British Columbia, on Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at 5:00 pm Yours truly, Rick Krowchuk Secretary-Treasurer Trustees: Joy Alexander Christopher Richardson Fraser Ballantyne Allan Wong Janet Fraser Student Trustee: Jing Wang Senior Maureen Ciarniello David Nelson Staff: Catherine Jamieson Scott Robinson Denise Johnson Rob Schindel Brian Kuhn Janet Stewart Lisa Landry Ian Wind Jim Meschino Reps: Rory Brown, VSTA Alt: John Silver, VSTA Chloe McKnight, VESTA Heather Allison, VESTA Jason Lauzon, VASSA Brent Schieman, VASSA Richard Zerbe, VEPVPA Jonathan Weresch, VEPVPA Tim Chester, IUOE Tim De Vivo, IUOE Leana Birk, PASA Joey Lau, CUPE Loc 15 Lois Holmlund, CUPE 15 Alex Dow, DPAC Iraj Khabazian, DPAC John Pesa, Trades Ken Chohanik, Trades Brent Boyd, CUPE 407 Sirada Pittayakornpisuth, VDSC Others: Sec-Treasurer's Office Bill Ostrom District Parents Ernest Fanthorpe Kurt Heinrich Kelly Isford-Saxon Chris Allen Doug McClary Lynda Bonvillain Ron Macdonald Ed. Centre Engineers Lois Schack Rentals Cafeteria ✓ se VANCOUVER SCHOOL BOARD COMMITTEE MEETING COMMITTEE II — PLANNING AND FACILITIES Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at 5:00 pm Room 120, VSB Education Centre AGENDA Delegations Presenters 1. L'Ecole Bilingue PAC Jennifer Uegama (Timed item 5:00 pm — 5:10 pm) 2. Maple Grove out of Catchment Montessori Parents Patrick Roberge (Timed item 5:15 pm — 5:25 pm) Tim Luu Items Requiring Board Actions / Motions Reports for Trustees' Information 3. Maple Grove Out of Catchment S. Robinson (report to be provided) 4. 0-4 Childcare - Nelson and Fleming Elementary J. Meschino K. Isford-Saxon New Business / Enquiries Date and Time of Next Meeting Wednesday, April 1, 2015 at 5:00 pm in Room 120 ITEM 1 L'Ecole Bilingue Seismic Committee Committee II, February 18, 2015 Presenter: Jennifer Uegama, Chair - L'Ecole Bilingue Seismic Committee 1. Give very brief history of L'Ecole Bilingue seismic upgrade project for new school board members. 2. Express our appreciation to the VSB for the temporary "swing-site" school. The move has been successful and the children and staff are happy in their new location. 3. Express our optimism that the Seismic Advisory Committee that is in the process of being formed will be a successful forum for communication between the parents, staff, administration and VSB during the construction of the new school. 4. Encourage the communication process to be as transparent as possible. In particular, making efforts to provide a full and achievable schedule for the new school, including the planned completion date. We ask that the use of target dates be avoided and replaced with verifiable milestones. February 18, 2015 L'Ecole Bilingue Elementary School: Seismic Upgrade Committee Presentation to Committee II OUR MESSAGE 1. We wish to thank the VSB for moving our children, teachers and school staff out of the high-risk school and into a safe, temporary site. We would like to acknowledge the hard work, energy and dedication of the administration, teachers and other staff of L'Ecole Bilingue during the move. They worked many hours to make the transition to the new site as smooth as possible for the children. 2. Throughout the project to date, the L'Ecole Bilingue PAC Seismic Committee has fully participated when invited to do so. We have knowledgeable parents in our community who want only to help VSB to complete this project as quickly and safely as possible. 3. Our Committee has kept parents, the VSB and other stakeholders fully informed throughout the process. Even though our school is now at its temporary site, we realize there is still much work ahead for all of us. 4. The swing site construction was not timely. Our school community repeatedly received last-minute updates about delays, leaving parents scrambling to adapt and react. As a result of our Seismic Committee's advocacy, the VSB created a Working Group that has proved to be extremely valuable. Since its creation, parents have been treated as the stakeholders they are, and the Working Group has been able to give parents more reliable, up-front information. 5. Our parent community has long fostered and promoted a collaborative, trust-based approach with VSB. Parents had lost faith in the VSB's ability to deliver this project in an effective way, and thus the Working Group was formed in an attempt to rebuild that trust. The group's recent work has improved this situation. We thank all who were involved in the Working Group for their time and engagement. 6. The last time the L'Ecole Bilingue Seismic Committee presented at Committee II, in November 2014, we asked for the Working Group to continue throughout the construction phase of the new school. Several Trustees supported that request. As a result, a Seismic Advisory Committee has been formed and will be meeting after the tender is awarded for the new school. We are optimistic that this new group, made up of representatives from the VSB, designers and architects, school administration, teachers and parents, will build on the success of the previous group. 7. We continue to be concerned that the multiple delays to date will delay L'Ecole Bilingue's new school project still further. VSB has continued to commit to a completion date of September 2016, however, our view is that this date is wholly unrealistic. 8. The tender package for the new school went out this week and will close on March 3rd. At the first meeting of the Seismic Advisory Committee, we would like to see a full, achievable and updated schedule for the new school, including the planned completion date. We strongly favour a schedule that includes verifiable milestones rather than "target dates," which in the past have led to disappointment and frustration among the parent community. (Some trustees voiced support for this idea at our last presentation here in November.) 9. The swing site L'Ecole Bilingue now occupies was created to host a series of schools that will cycle through during their respective seismic projects. We all have an interest in ensuring that the site is available, as soon as possible, to the next school that needs it. ITEM 2 Attention: Vancouver Board of Education School Trustees — Committee II Agenda Item Maple Grove Montessori Parent Delegation RE: Cross Boundary Policy We are writing on behalf of parents with children who attend the Montessori program at Maple Grove Elementary, one of two feeder schools to Magee. The Montessori program at Maple Grove was established in 2004; students from all over the city are enrolled in this district program. Over the ten years that the Montessori program has been in place at Maple Grove, the families, many of whom are cross boundary, have become an integral part of the neighborhood and its community of schools. From the day they step into Maple Grove, these families make the commitment to this larger school community network and they look forward to the day when their children will transition to Magee. The first graduating class from Maple Grove's Montessori program was admitted to Magee in 2010. In subsequent years, it has been the practice that Maple Grove Montessori students have also been admitted to Magee as part of the feeder school system. However, it wasn't until mid-January 2015, when some parents attended Magee's Open House, that our parent group was informed of the news that a lottery system will now be the only method that will be used to determine admittance of cross boundary applicants in the district. We would like to communicate our concerns to you about how this cross boundary policy guideline is being applied and enforced. We understand and are supportive of the V.B.E.'s school admissions policy that gives first priority to in catchment students and siblings of concurrent students. A lottery system will then be applied for all other cross boundary students. At this time, however, we would like you to consider why Maple Grove Montessori cross boundary students should have consideration for admittance before other out-of- catchment students to Magee. ■ Currently, there are many families with siblings in both Magee and Maple Grove. From this point on, however, if a family's oldest child in grade 7 in the Montessori program at Maple Grove is not successfully admitted to Magee through the lottery, the ramifications for our families could be tremendous. Those families with multiple children would consider uprooting either the younger elementary children (who have already established peer relationships at Maple Grove) or dealing with the hardship of having their children attend schools in two different parts of the city. The Montessori program could be adversely affected. ■ Unlike many schools with transient populations, one of the most unique features about the Montessori programs in the school district is the long term commitment from families — the students start in kindergarten and many will make the educational journey together all the way to graduation day in grade 7. The transition from elementary to high school is already one of the most challenging times in a child's life; to compound it with the notion that they are likely going to enter a new high school not knowing any of their peers has caused even our most confident students to feel nervous and uneasy. Quite a number of parents feel that their children will be extremely vulnerable at high school if they must enter a new community where there are no familiar faces to turn to.