HALIFAX REGIONAL SCHOOL BOARD Imagine Our Schools: 10 Year Facility Master Plan, Phase 1

Public ⌧ Report No. 08-02-1122 Private Date: 07 March 2008 HALIFAX REGIONAL SCHOOL BOARD Imagine Our Schools: 10 Year Facility Master Plan, Phase 1 PURPOSE: To provide the Board with recommendations regarding the outcomes of Phase 1 of the Imagine Our Schools consultation process. The approved recommendations will become the 10-year Facilities Master Plan for the Citadel High, Dartmouth High, Prince Andrew High, Cole Harbour District High and Auburn Drive High Families of Schools which will be forwarded to the Department of Education for funding consideration. BACKGROUND: Traditionally, capital planning for the school facilities in the HRSB has been completed through school closure and boundary review processes resulting in capital requests to the Department of Education (DOE) on an annual or biennial basis. The capital requests often consisted of a list of new school construction, alterations and additions. The last major funding announcements from the DOE occurred in 2003 and the summary of the capital funding for the HRSB from that announcement can be found in Appendix 1. In December 2004 the HRSB approved and forwarded a capital construction submission as requested by the DOE which outlined capital requests for new construction and additions/alterations. The board was requested to appear before the provincial School Capital Construction Committee in January 2005 to clarify and elaborate on the capital requests. The Deputy Minister’s Office sent a request to the HRSB in July 2005 for additional information before considering the HRSB capital requests. A detailed submission was prepared, titled “Capital Project – Submission draft 08/03/05” which was approved by the Board on September 28, 2005. (http://www.hrsb.ns.ca/files/Downloads/pdf/reports/2005- 2006/September/05-09-883.pdf) Since that time the Provincial government has experienced fiscal pressures and has redefined the public consultation process for school reviews for possible closures and consolidations. The capital requests of 2005 were not reviewed for funding by the government due to the fiscal pressures. It was indicated through a request to the Superintendent from the Deputy Minister in May 2007 that: “…it would be timely and helpful if the Halifax Regional School Board undertook a review of proposed projects, underutilized space and changing demographics for the Dartmouth/Eastern Passage area and Halifax Peninsula prior to the Department of Education and provincial Cabinet considering the most recent School Capital Construction Report.” In June 2007 the Superintendent built on this request and, with staff assistance, initiated a public consultation process titled “Imagine Our Schools.” The intention was to engage the communities of each HRSB Families of Schools in a constructive dialogue around how to achieve school facilities that can best provide the educational program. The results of the consultations with numerous stakeholders, along with the expertise of the consultant team, were to become the basis of a 10-Year Facility Master Plan. 1 This process was designed to be executed over three phases in order to fully consult all Families of Schools within the HRSB. The Phases were outlined as follows: Phase 1: • The 17 schools in the Citadel High Family of Schools • The 44 schools in the Families of Schools of Dartmouth High, Prince Andrew High, Cole Harbour District High and Auburn Drive High Phase 2 and 3: • The 32 schools in the Families of Schools of C.P. Allen High, Lockview High, Millwood High and Sackville High • The 31 schools in the Families of Schools of Sir John A. Macdonald High, J.L. Ilsley High and Halifax West High • The 13 schools in the Families of Schools of Musquodoboit Rural High, Eastern Shore District High and Duncan MacMillan High Phase 1 was initiated with Public Information Meetings hosted by the Superintendent in Halifax on June 14, 2007 and Dartmouth on June 25, 2007. The Superintendent also hosted an information session with local politicians representing the areas covered in Phase 1 on July 11, 2007. (See Appendix 2 for full list of consultations and meeting dates.) A Request for Proposals (RFP) was initiated for a School Facility Planning Consultant in July 2007. The full RFP can be found at: http://www.hrsb.ns.ca/files/Downloads/pdf/finance/imagine-our-schools-rfp.pdf. The RFP was advertised on July 21, 2007 in both the Globe and Mail and the Chronicle Herald and was also listed on the Council for Educational Facility Planners International’s website. The closing date for proposals was August 9, 2007. HRSB received and reviewed five proposals and awarded the contract to a consortium led by CS&P Architects (Please see Appendix 3 for the contact information of the consortium team). The Consultants proposed a different consultation process than was initially proposed by the HRSB. The changes were designed to: • ensure the consultants were acting openly and transparently; • decrease the direct involvement of HRSB staff; • expand the consultation to more community stakeholders. By October 31, the Consultants had completed a Background Report based on information gathered from HRSB staff and local government agencies. Data they gathered included: • population projections; • student enrolment projections; and • facility program delivery reviews of the 61 schools in Phase 1 to verify each school’s ability to deliver the current educational programming. (The full Background Report can be found at http://www.hrsb.ns.ca/files/Downloads/pdf/imagine/ImagineOurSchoolsNov9rev ised.pdf) Based on this background information the consultants moved into the community consultation process and continued to communicate with and gather information 2 from local government agencies and organizations. (Appendix 2 outlines all the meetings and consultation details). HRSB staff assisted in this work through organizing meeting venues, communications and information gathering. (See Appendix 4 for communications details). A more detailed overview of the consultation process can be found in the consultants’ 10 Year Facilities Master Plan. (Appendix 6) CONTENT: HRSB staff agrees with the underlying principles and methodology of the Imagine Our Schools process. Specifically, the HRSB staff accepts that the options and priorities derived from the Imagine Our Schools process were based upon the following principles: • Maximizing student achievement through facilities that can best meet the educational program. • Enhancing opportunities for community-centred schools, with a commitment to exploring partnerships and joint use agreements. • Addressing the realities of declining enrolment and aging facilities. Funding for capital investments in schools is entirely under the control of the Provincial Government and the outcomes from the Imagine Our Schools process are entirely dependent on new funding from the Department of Education. In order to provide a 10-year timeline for implementing this plan, a funding allocation of $25 million per year is required for Phase 1 of the Imagine Our Schools process. HRSB staff recognizes that Phase 1 addresses capital needs in only 5 of the 15 Families of Schools in the Board. In order to best plan for the potential outcomes of Phases 2 and 3 of the Imagine Our Schools process, HRSB staff will be requesting an additional funding allocation be reserved from the DOE for anticipated proposals for new schools and school alterations from the remaining 10 families of schools. The approved recommendations (the 10-Year Facilities Master Plan, Phase 1) from this staff report will be forwarded to the Department of Education for review and confirmation of funding availability. If funding is not available based on the recommendations and timelines provided, modifications to the 10-Year Facility Master Plan, Phase 1 will need to occur. A public communications plan would need to be implemented if this course of action were to occur. HRSB staff recognizes that it will be at least 2010/2011 before any new funding for proposals from Phase 1 of the Imagine Our Schools process will be available, with some exceptions based upon 2003 funding allocations: • Funding approved for alterations to Atlantic Memorial/Terence Bay is still required and will be used for that purpose once it becomes available. • Funding allocated for alterations to Lakeview Consolidated Elementary is still required and will be used for that purpose once it becomes available. • Funding approved for a Waverley Memorial – L.C. Skerry replacement school will be used for that purpose when it becomes available. 3 • Funding approved for alterations to Prince Andrew High School is still required and will be used for that purpose once it becomes available. • Funding approved for alterations to Bedford Junior High School. The HRSB staff confirms its recommendation that those funds be used for the construction of a new Bedford high school to replace Charles P. Allen (CPA), with CPA to become a junior high. • Funding was approved for a new elementary school for the Citadel High Family of Schools. The HRSB staff assumes those funds remain available for capital expenditures within this family of schools based on the outcome of the public consultation process. HRSB staff will recommend that the Board not initiate the school review process for closure or consolidation until funding for the alterations/additions at the proposed receiving schools are confirmed by the Department of Education’s Capital Improvement funding process. The HRSB staff will not begin any school review process until the Department of Education is in a position to disperse funds on a project-specific basis for the construction or alterations of receiving schools. The Board must adhere to new legislation passed by the Provincial Government regarding the School Review Process for both closures and consolidations. Although regulations regarding this new legislation are not completed, the Board recognizes that it is required to identify schools to be reviewed for closure or consolidation by the end of March of any given year to allow one year for the new review process to take place. Among many factors, transportation concerns will be evaluated in each review decision to ensure proper safety concerns are addressed.

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