NVPAC Update

A few quick updates from NVPAC.

1. NVPAC March 25th meeting Cancelled

After consultation and feedback from our members we have decided to cancel the March 25th NVPAC meeting. We realize this creates a challenge in getting parent input for the Policy 610 Working group meetings and in keeping you all informed on other issues and are hoping parents will use our blog and email to share perspectives on these issues during this very busy time.

2. Next Meeting

Our next NVPAC meeting will be our AGM on April 22nd at LMCC. These meetings are for all parents and I hope to see as many people as we can there. If parents are interested in a role within NVPAC we will be taking nominations and electing for next years positions at that meeting.

3. Parent Survey 

To help us gather parent input for the working groups we will be asking PACs to forward parents two surveys we will be conducting next week in order to understand the experience and opinions of parents on a variety of issues. Your help in getting these surveys out to parents would be greatly appreciated.

4. District Budget

The school district is expecting to hear from the Ministry about its 2010/2011 funding on March 15th. We will try to communicate any information we have on this via the blog ASAP so we can all understand the budget issues for next year. 

5. Blogging

Its sort of redundant to say it here but we are posting our feedback on the Policy 610 working groups and other NV School District info to our blog  blog.northvanpac.org , the blog welcomes comments. 

6. Gaming Grants Restored

Lastly, one helpful funding announcement from Victoria this week is that while they will no longer be funding playgrounds from lottery revenues they have restored the PAC gaming grants to $20 per student for next year. 

Thanks for your ongoing support

Elementary Working Group - Recommendations for Meetings #2&3

After representing NVPAC in the first discussion in the Windsor FOS Policy 610 Working Group discussions I thought I would share my process recommendations for the remaining two elementary working group meetings. 


My reason for making these recommendations is to help parents to have an effective discussion of the situations for the children at each of the schools next year. In particular parents want the Windsor FOS and the Fromme discussions to focus on the specific alternatives for the schools in question. 


To support the discussion of the school situations, the next meeting should consider the following questions:
1. Are these the right schools to consider for closure and what other schools could be looked at?
2. Are there other student populations that could fill up the schools to address the enrolment and budget issues?
3. For each school under consideration (Plymouth, Blueridge, Seymour Heights, Fromme, Other?), if the school were closed where would the students go next year and what would those schools and the student experience look like (class sizes etc)?

To support this it would be useful for the working groups to have the following information:
1. Rationale for closure of each school
2. The demographics of each school under consideration and all potential receiving schools (the numbers should be total #'s and for each grade + class), they should also include breakdowns of special needs children in each class and which catchment the students come from.
3. School configurations (# of classrooms available) for each school as well as other facilities and building condition information.
4. Demographics for each catchment, where do students in each catchment go (which school, french immersion, private school, etc.). Its likely impossible but if we had an idea of the distribution of children around the catchment that would be useful to understand the impacts on potential receiving schools.

For the 3rd meeting, the group should be enabled to focus on the transition implications. In my opinion there are two main questions that need to be asked for each school at that meeting:
1. What are the aspects of the school and its culture (large and small) that need to be preserved, and how might that be accomplished.
2. What are the concerns that need to be addressed to help students move to another school, and how might those concerns be addressed.

Alternative Programs

Hi all, sorry for taking so long to post. Here's a summary...our facilitator did an admirable job keeping us on track. Our guideline seemed to be the same as the other working groups. It was decided based on time that we wouldn't go through the 23 points as per the draft budget, but that we would go home have a look at the points and come back with our comments at the next meeting. After introducations, it was felt by the facilitator that there was a variety of knowledge of the programs. The facilitator asked for the experts in the room to speak to each of the programs. This did take some time. A question I asked was about waitlists for each of the programs and each program has a healthy wait list. At 8:30, we split into three groups and each group was tasked to discuss the three "C's"; consolidation; cohabitation and closure. We came back just shortly before 9 and it was clear that a defination for consolidation and cohabitation was needed as different people had different ideas. It was also clear that many of the people asked to attend, really didn't have a good feel for the process and what was expected by them. There was also a healthy discussion on whether children should be invited to attend to discuss their programs. Our homework was to go away read the draft budget and come back with ideas on what may have been missed and to hear back from parents; staff and stakeholder.

Policy 610 Working Group - Comments on Windsor FOS Meeting 1

NVPAC is representing parents across the district at the Policy 610 working group discussions on the potential closure of Fromme, Blueridge, Seymour Heights and Plymouth schools, the re-organization of Alternate programs and the delivery of French Immersion.

As NVPAC Co-chair and a Plymouth parent I was involved in the Windsor family of schools discussion representing the district parents.

Overall Process

The primary purpose of the policy 610 process is to give parents facing the potential closure of schools the opportunity to discuss alternatives to closure and the implications of closure and provide those discussions as input into the trustees eventual decision. There are 3 meetings planned for this working group to discuss the issues. This first meeting focussed on the question "are there alternative budgetary measures either through revenue or savings that would enable schools to remain open?" The next meeting will examine the individual schools involved and the pros and cons of the different alternative future options for the schools while the third meeting will focus on the implications of closure both in terms of aspects of the schools to preserve and the challenges involved in a transition.

Respectful Engagement

These are difficult issues for parents and the community and while everyone wants to talk about the situation at their children's schools I was impressed by the commitment of the parents involved who came prepared to discuss the future of their children's education and to engage in productive discussion about the potential consolidation of schools and changes to the programs in which their children are enrolled.

Budget Review

Each of the breakout groups at this meeting were asked to focus on the budget alternatives in light of the list of cuts already contemplated to meet the districts $6~8 million budget challenge. The Windsor FOS group had a few good suggestions but the general consensus amongst the group was that there is such a huge budget gap and there are so many cuts already contemplated that don't yet close the gap that there is very little more that could be done this year and even if it was the money might be better spent first restoring the other cuts that impact student services. Reviewing the impact of students from the proposed budget cuts lead several people to question whether the district should be consider closing more schools to fill as many school as possible rather than closing fewer schools.

Short and Long Term Plans
While there was little time at this meeting to consider the specific different alternatives for closure in the Windsor family of schools the group did discuss the medium-term implications of the capital plan versus the short-term needs of this budget driven consolidation process. The capital plan proposes consolidating Seymour Heights, Plymouth and Blueridge into a single 400~500 student elementary school but this is unlikely to happen for several years. While the group do not all agree with this plan there is an understanding that this is the main long-term plan for the area to meet its enrolment trends and replacing aging facilities. So, while not the immediate focus of the working group, the group needs to be aware of this plan in order to eliminate the cloud of uncertainty and give the community a clear long-term plan for the configuration of schools in the area.

The working group considers this an opportunity for the community to come together and discuss what we as a community would prefer for the long-term configuration of schools in the area to meet the needs of our students while responding to the immediate need of the district to balance its budget.

Considering the closure of one Windsor FOS school
Focusing on the immediate issue of the three schools in the Windsor FOS under consideration for closure, the group discussed the feasibility of closing multiple schools and agreed that it would not be feasible to close more than one of the schools in the immediate term as the surrounding facilities can not reasonably accommodate the populations of even the two smallest schools without fragmenting the entire population of two schools around the surrounding schools. Based on this conclusion, at the next meeting the group will consider the alternatives for the closure of a single school in the area. The group agreed that we need to look at this from the perspective of the classroom and look at all the potential future scenarios for our children. At the next meeting the group will consider whether these are all the schools to consider and for each potential school closure where would the students go if that school were closed, where could they go, what would classes look like at the receiving schools? At the third meeting the group will look at the implications of closure for each of the schools, what issues arise if you close the school, what aspects of the school and its culture need to be retained and how could an effective transition take place. 

Parent Input Sought

NVPAC and each of the school representative groups is asking for your input on these issues to ensure all issues are considered. Are there budget options that haven't been considered. How should we consider the potential movement of children and what issues need to be considered. Please submit any feedback to restructuring2010@nvsd44.bc.ca or to your representatives on the committee.  

Province puts some money into education

The 2010 Provincial budget provided a small increase in education funding both in the reinstatement of funds for the Annual Facilities Grants that go toward school maintenance and education funding for students. The increased student funding goes toward covering a portion of the increased teacher salaries, pensions, taxes, HST rebate and all-day kindergarten implementation.

While the small increase and the HST rebates are welcome relief, the school district will not know exactly how much funding it will receive until March 15th when the Ministry provides the district its funding announcements for the 2010/2011 year. However it is unlikely this increase will be sufficient to cover the actual costs of education in the district and even if closures take place the district will also be forced to make significant cuts in services and staffing next year.

Looking at the budget directions interim report posted on the district website the measures being contemplated as possible cuts to balance the budget represent significant cuts that will impact all students, and some quite significantly. We can hope for good news when the Ministry gives its final numbers but no matter what happens I think the district will need more help from parents to support our children's education.

Potential School Consolidations announced at Jan 19. Board Meeting

At the January 19th School Board meeting the trustees decided to begin consultation for the potential closure of  4 schools (Blueridge, Plymouth, Seymour Heights and Fromme) along with consultation to examine re-organization of alternative programs and to examine restructuring of elementary French immersion into single-track schools.

My personal perspective on this:

Firstly, I believe parents across the district and in the schools directly impacted recognize the need to make cuts to balance the budget. But I also sense that many are surprised, shocked and dismayed at the decisions that have been made, and I expect in other cases relieved not to be named.

These are terrible decisions to have to make and we understand that, but understanding does not reduce the pain and challenge involved in carrying out these decisions. The only good news is that by closing schools the district should be able to do more to ensure our students continue to receive the high quality education they receive today wherever they are in North Vancouver.

The challenge now is how to make this a process that ensures these are the right decisions, ones that enable the district to provide more classroom resources, capture the best aspects of the schools we have today and create a positive situation for children rather than a destructive process that pits schools against one another with students caught in the middle.

The situation at Fromme is clear in terms of what the board thinks needs to be done but hard to understand when the school is as strong and vibrant as it is. Maintaining that strength through this process is essential no matter where the final decision actually leads.

The situation East of the Seymour is more complicated and there is alot of confusion over what the Trustees actually think needs to be done in the area. Many parents are very surprised that all three schools are being contemplated for closure, although it is important to realize that this decision is only saying that each of the schools are part of the discussion at this stage, which makes sense as it is difficult contemplate changes to one school in an area without considering the others but it does not make it any easier for those on the list.

East of the Seymour, there aren't enough spaces elsewhere in the area to enable the district to close all three schools (Blueridge, Plymouth and Seymour), from a pure capacity perspective they could close any one of them and move those students to the remaining two or they could close two of them if a large number students move to Dorothy Lynas, Sherwood Park and Lynnmour.

It is a complicated set of options. Since the board is not permitted by policy to provide guidance on what they think needs to be done the working group being formed to discuss these closures will have to analyze all the options with regard to new configurations East of the Seymour and the transition effort needed to achieve those.

The situation with the alternative programs is also a challenge. The programs have each been created to serve different educational needs in the community, it may be difficult to find common ground in how they need to be organized and delivered to maximize their benefit to the students and the community.

For French Immersion the impacts are less immediately obvious but it will be interesting to see what the opportunities and options are for moving to French-only schools.

In all of these cases it will take a lot of discipline, communication, empathy and understanding to examine the potential changes without pitting groups that may later be consolidated against each other, but that is what is needed to enable a positive transition to the future configuration in each case.

NVPAC will be discussing the outcome of the board meeting and the upcoming consultation process at tonights NVPAC meeting (7pm LMCC)

Dave

Jan. 19th School Board Meeting on School Consolidations

Meeting Reminder
North Vancouver School Board Meeting
Jan 19, 7pm, School Board Office

more info: http://www.nvsd44.bc.ca/sitecore/content/Updates/PublicBoardMeeting.aspx 


As discussed during the School Boards budget consultation process, the board for 2010/2011 is expected to cut at least a $6 million from the budget in 2009/2010. To balance the budget, while protecting the excellent education our kids receive today, the School District will need to make significant cuts across the district including a number of school consolidations and program changes.

At the December board meeting the board asked the administration to consult with stakeholder groups to review the criteria for evaluating schools and from that to prepare a list of potential schools for  consolidation. We expect the trustees will receive this list of potential schools or programs for closure in 2010-2011 at Tuesday nights board meeting and they will then decide on the next steps in the consolidation process including potentially naming the schools the Board is considering closing and starting a consolidation consultation process for each of those schools.

NVPAC has been working with the school district throughout this process to ensure parent input is included and that these significant decisions are being made with both the short and long term needs of students in mind. If the Board approves a list of specific schools to consider for consolidation,  a working group of stakeholders for each school, including PACs, will be assembled and asked to consider both potential alternatives to closures and what issues exist that need to be resolved to enable a positive transition into a consolidated school.

Parents should be aware that these consolidations and budget cuts will impact all schools in the district to differing degrees. At the end of it our hope is that we will have a financially sustainable School District where we can afford high qualty and richly diverse education for all students.

For those wishing to have input  there are 10 minutes at the beginning of all Board meetings for the public to speak (2 minutes each) on issues on that meetings agenda. Please come in advance and sign up to speak if you wish to do so. There is also time for public comment on any education topic at the end of the Board Meeting.



NVPAC will be discussing the outcome of this meeting at Thursday's NVPAC general meeting (Thursday Jan 21st, 7pm, Leo Marshall Curriculum Centre.)