Kanata Meeting 1
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Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Call for comments on proposed accommodation review of Kanata schools
OCDSB has put out a call for comments on a proposal for an accommodation review of Kanata schools. This is your chance to tell OCDSB what you would want to see in a review (or not have a review at all - "do nothing" is one of their options!). Here is a presentation by OCDSB. Comments should be sent to: kanata@ocdsb.ca
My submission: Kanata Schools Accommodation Review Input Needed!
Here is the text of the comments I submitted to OCDSB:
I have recently had the opportunity to review a power point presentation prepared for a meeting on Kanata School issues on October 26, 2009, as well as a covering memo from Karyn Carty Ostafichuk. As per that memo, I am submitting the following comments regarding an accommodation consultation:
I am a parent of two young children (2.5 years old and 1 year old) not yet in the school system and we live in Kanata Lakes.
-"Not do anything" is simply not an option.
-Any accommodation review must engage the parents of children not yet in the school system and must gauge the future impact of these students on the use of full day JK/SK and before/ after school care usage.
-Communication plans should seek to specifically reach out to parents of children who have not yet entered the school system, such as myself: these parents do not have access to communications through school newsletters or other communications and yet they are a vital piece of the accommodation question.
-There is no information readily available on the OCDSB website regarding any of the issues faced by the Kanata schools, nor of any proposed consultation. This should be remedied immediately.
-While an accommodation review must take a long-term view, it must also offer immediate and short term solutions as well - the current overcrowding of the identified schools is not acceptable. A full community review should begin immediately - an individual school approach should not be preferred due to different program offerings at different schools.
-Selecting shovel-ready land for a new Kanata North school cannot wait for the end of the accommodation review - over-crowding issues continue unabated, to be further complicated by the implementation of full day JK/SK and development currently underway is going to push the Kanata schools well beyond the current over-crowding issues within the next couple of years.
-It should be a goal of any review to minimize the level of disruption for students: having students moved between schools or bussed far from where they live to deal with overcrowding issues should not be a preferred solution.
-I am concerned that "over-building for the long term" is a focus at all - the development plans for Kanata North suggest that growth will continue exponentially for decades to come.
-If multiple french immersion offerings (i.e. EFI and MFI) are contributing to some of the space allocation issues, alternatives to multiple offerings should be examined.
-Before considering converting high schools to 7-12, very comprehensive research should be examined as to the impact of that choice on students.
-Development planning in Kanata and school planning for Kanata cannot continue in to operate separately from each other: Ideally, school land would be set aside in development plans and then the school actually built as the development is built. At a minimum, services must be run to school sites as the rest of the development progresses. Local municipal and Provincial politicians must work with OCDSB to ensure that this is accomplished.
Thank you for undertaking this very important review.
I have recently had the opportunity to review a power point presentation prepared for a meeting on Kanata School issues on October 26, 2009, as well as a covering memo from Karyn Carty Ostafichuk. As per that memo, I am submitting the following comments regarding an accommodation consultation:
I am a parent of two young children (2.5 years old and 1 year old) not yet in the school system and we live in Kanata Lakes.
-"Not do anything" is simply not an option.
-Any accommodation review must engage the parents of children not yet in the school system and must gauge the future impact of these students on the use of full day JK/SK and before/ after school care usage.
-Communication plans should seek to specifically reach out to parents of children who have not yet entered the school system, such as myself: these parents do not have access to communications through school newsletters or other communications and yet they are a vital piece of the accommodation question.
-There is no information readily available on the OCDSB website regarding any of the issues faced by the Kanata schools, nor of any proposed consultation. This should be remedied immediately.
-While an accommodation review must take a long-term view, it must also offer immediate and short term solutions as well - the current overcrowding of the identified schools is not acceptable. A full community review should begin immediately - an individual school approach should not be preferred due to different program offerings at different schools.
-Selecting shovel-ready land for a new Kanata North school cannot wait for the end of the accommodation review - over-crowding issues continue unabated, to be further complicated by the implementation of full day JK/SK and development currently underway is going to push the Kanata schools well beyond the current over-crowding issues within the next couple of years.
-It should be a goal of any review to minimize the level of disruption for students: having students moved between schools or bussed far from where they live to deal with overcrowding issues should not be a preferred solution.
-I am concerned that "over-building for the long term" is a focus at all - the development plans for Kanata North suggest that growth will continue exponentially for decades to come.
-If multiple french immersion offerings (i.e. EFI and MFI) are contributing to some of the space allocation issues, alternatives to multiple offerings should be examined.
-Before considering converting high schools to 7-12, very comprehensive research should be examined as to the impact of that choice on students.
-Development planning in Kanata and school planning for Kanata cannot continue in to operate separately from each other: Ideally, school land would be set aside in development plans and then the school actually built as the development is built. At a minimum, services must be run to school sites as the rest of the development progresses. Local municipal and Provincial politicians must work with OCDSB to ensure that this is accomplished.
Thank you for undertaking this very important review.
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