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Consolidation

2009-06-08T13:34:00.001-07:00

The school board had a meeting with the Capilano, Gold Bar and Fulton Place community leagues on April 22 at the Capilano Community Hall. George Rice, our school board trustee, wasn’t there.

A couple of things came out at the meeting. The Edmonton Public School Board has a $33 million surplus. That’s no reason to mismanage funds, but it does mean they could add extra spaces in the outlying areas of the city without closures.

It was clear that the recommendation to the trustees must include consolidation. Adding alternative programs to the school is not reason enough to keep the schools open. The school board considers our area to have around 2,100 spaces, and believes we should have closer to 1,200. The presenters said if we saw one school closure in the neighbourhood they would be back in five or ten years to look at more consolidation. It looks like they want to close not one but two of the four schools.

The school board says Fulton has 480 spots, Gold Bar 340, and Capilano 405. Total enrolment between the three elementary schools is 486. If the intent is to keep elementary separate from junior high, they could only close one elementary school, which seems a certainty. But, if the school board wants to close 1,000 spaces, they will need to close Hardisty Junior High, which has 402 students and 878 spaces. The presenters talked about likely increases in capacity at Ottewell and Kenilworth when new schools in Millwoods open. This kind of talk seems to indicate they want to close not just one elementary school but Hardisty also. Closing Hardisty would be tragic since the every parent with a kid there says the school is doing amazing things, especially under the principal Al Lowrie. How can we lose that? We have schools providing an excellent education and community experience for our kids, but the school board looks strictly at the numbers. They will tell you that they want what’s best for the kids, but need to close the schools because they have too many spaces and that costs too much money. The biggest savings will come from staff reductions (the board saves $200,00 a year by closing a school) and the staff are what make our schools great.

Combined Community League Meeting for Capilano, Gold Bar, and Fulton Place

2009-04-11T20:10:00.000-07:00

Representatives from Edmonton Public Schools' Planning Department will be meeting with the Community Leagues of Gold Bar, Capilano, and Fulton Place Schools. Information about the Greater Hardisty Area school review process and timelines will be shared.

The meeting is scheduled for 7:00 pm Wed April 22, 2009 at the Capilano Community League Hall. All interested stakeholders are welcome. For more information, call Bill 780.469.5744

Taken directly from:
http://www.capilano.info/content/view/333/81/

Results of the Ad Hoc Committee for School Closure and Sustainability Review

2009-04-11T19:47:00.000-07:00

To read the recommendations that the school board received from two consulting firms, visit:
http://www.epsb.ca/board/april14_09/item06.pdf

The firms they hired are:

http://www.cambridgestrategies.com/
johnstonresearch (no site found)

Points of interest in the document are as follows:

Trustee George Rice recommends that "support for the smooth transition of students and staff
in the case of a school closure be enhanced," and "a process to monitor and record student success post transition be developed and implemented." It sounds as though school closures are viewed as inevitable in the Greater Hardisty Area.

Important Board Meeting 14 April

2009-04-09T16:58:00.000-07:00

Last year the school board struck a sub committee to study the issue of school closures. That committee will report its findings at the April 14 board meeting. The meeting starts at 6:00, but the report isn’t scheduled until 7:30. Parent pressure is the surest way to get the board to listen. Come out to the board meeting and let your presence be felt.

Russ

Sustainability Review Revelations

2009-04-09T16:53:00.000-07:00

On March 5, 2009, some of the planners from the school board held an information session on the greater Hardisty area sustainability review. The school board is hiring a consultant to recommend how to proceed. I’m not sure if the presenter let it slip or he misspoke, but he said one criterion for the review was consolidation. When pressed, he backed away from that statement. The key is, if the board lays out consolidation as a requirement of the report, that is exactly what they will get back. He did say the best interests of the students was the chief guiding principle.

I asked some questions on budget. The whole idea of school closure is to save money. The example most often used is that it is more expensive to maintain three elementary schools than two. I asked for some clarification here. Maintenance represents less than 10% of the budget for Capilano school, in other words, staffing costs represent more than 90% of the cost at the school. Closing a school will result in small capital savings. So I probed into that. The presenter then said that the target for staff costs is closer to 80%. This needs to be deconstructed. The maintenance costs for a school won’t change too much depending on student population. It is more a factor of the physical size of the facilities. Assuming that facility costs remain constant, the only way you get capital costs as a greater percentage is to lower staff costs. Closing a school, it seems to me, is about reducing staff costs. Fewer staff means a higher student to teacher ratio. This is not in the best interests of students, which is supposedly the chief guiding principle.

Russ

EPSB School Closure Survey

2009-01-22T23:09:00.000-08:00

The Edmonton Public School Board is taking a survey on school closures. It’s password protected, and we don’t know how the sample was chosen, but it is worthwhile for all of us to have a say. A closed survey seems to suggest there is a desire to control the response. Transparency would be better. Russ emailed

Bev Esslinger (Bev.Esslinger@epsb.ca), the board chair, to ask her to send me a password and to extend the deadline (which is January 23). You can do the same. The link for the survey is here:

http://viawebsurvey.epsb.net/vws/Surveys_ai1.cfm?a=1002&b=4047

Capilano Parent Advisory Council

2009-01-15T13:44:00.001-08:00

George Rice, the school board trustee for our area, will be attending the Capilano Parent Advisory Council meeting on 28 January 2009. Russ will attend and will take the opportunity to get an update from Mr. Rice on the review status. We’ll post the outcomes here after the 28^th. Stay tuned, and feel free to attend.

http://www.epsb.ca/trustees/gtrustee.shtml
George.Rice@epsb.ca

Edmonton Examiner on School Closures

2009-01-14T16:02:00.000-08:00

The Edmonton Examiner had a piece about school closures in the Dec 10 issue. Nancy Rempel wrote in the Community Matters section about the struggles in the Newton community. Check out the article at this link:

http://www.edmontonexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1340085

Board Meeting Follow-up with significant announcement

2008-12-09T21:39:00.003-08:00

At Tuesday’s (Nov 25) board meeting, they released a framework said they would look at enrolment solutions from a sector perspective and would consult more with stakeholders, including parents and the city. We’re not sure how the sector approach differs from the previous approach, but we think it is positive that the board will consult more with stakeholders. We’d like it to go further, however. The school board should coordinate with the city, not just consult. Parents and schools need flexibility to address enrolment as well, such as the ability to offer magnet programs like French immersion. Holyrood School, for instance, has French immersion but turns students away. There is demand for this program in Capilano and adjacent communities, but the school board denied our school the option of looking at French immersion. Of course, French immersion is just one magnet program. Others could include and IB program, or an all boys stream such as the Nellie McClung program for girls.

Edgar Schmidt did say they would make no closure announcements this year, but this may be a little hollow. It’s likely already to announce a closure for the 2009.10 school year. Our school is still part of the review.

Waiting for the big announcement

2008-11-20T15:44:00.000-08:00

We hope you heard Russ’s interview with Ron Wilson on the CBC Radio morning show. Many thanks to CBC reporter Tim Adams for contacting us and arranging the interview.

We hope to have a follow up interview after the November 25 school board meeting, where the board is said to release the "revolutionary" new format for reviewing schools. We hope you can make it to the meeting, or at the very least listen for the follow-up report on CBC.

Please take a moment to fill out the survey.

CBC Radio One Interview with Ron Wilson

2008-11-13T13:14:00.000-08:00

Tune in to CBC Radio One on Monday morning at 7:40 a.m., 17 November 2008 when we will be interviewed by Ron Wilson.

In the Edmonton area, it's 740AM and 93.9FM from 5:30 to 8:30 a.m. weekdays. Or, online at http://www.cbc.ca/radio/.

More about the show here: http://www.cbc.ca/edmontonam/.

Here we go again

2008-11-13T13:12:00.000-08:00

Well, our schools are back in the review. In June, parents received the letter posted below saying Capilano, Fulton Place, Gold Bar and Hardisty schools were again under review.

We’ve also learned the school will be releasing its school evaluation process at the Nov 25 board meeting. We don’t know anything about the process yet. We’ll post the results here after the meeting.

You can do two things to show your support for our schools.

1. Call 780-429-8085 or email (George.Rice@epsb.ca) our trustee, George Rice, to tell him you support keeping our schools open.

2. Come to the November 25 board meeting and let you voice be heard. The board meets at 6:00 in the McCauley Chambers at the Centre for Education at 1 Kingsway Ave. (on Kingsway Avenue close to 101 Street).

2008-11-13T09:27:00.000-08:00

The latest letter from Edgar Schmidt, Superintend

Highlights: there will be a review of district needs, and they intend to consult with many different groups, parents included, while working on the plan. Email ten.year.plan@epsb.ca.

Links to EPSB Board Meetings Agendas and Minutes

2008-11-13T08:21:00.000-08:00

If you'd like to be notified by email of upcoming Edmonton Public School Board Meetings, contact the board office at 780-429-8021. You can be placed on the email list.

- Board Meeting #5 Agenda - Wednesday, November 12, 2008 at 6:00 p.m.
Minutes: available 14 November 2008.

- Board Meeting #4 Agenda - Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 6:00 p.m.
Minutes: http://www.epsb.ca/board/oct28_08/item00.pdf

- Board Meeting #3 Agenda - Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 6:00 p.m.
Minutes: http://www.epsb.ca/board/oct14_08/item00.pdf

- Board Meeting #2 Agenda - Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at 6:00 p.m.
Minutes: http://www.epsb.ca/board/sept23_08/item00.pdf

- Organizational Board Meeting Agenda - Tuesday, September 9, 2008 (7:30 p.m.)
Minutes: http://www.epsb.ca/board/sept09_08/item00.pdf

Our New School Trustee

2007-10-16T15:00:00.000-07:00

George Rice has won the election for Ward G Trustee (http://www.georgerrice.ca/). Now let's make sure we voice our opinion to him about keeping our schools open, long before the issue comes up again and it's too late. Petition him to think of long-term strategies for sustainability, not just closing a school to save a few hundred thousand dollars over the next few years, only to have to spend millions in a few more years to build new schools and bus our children to far-off neighbourhoods.

-Jerry Aulenbach

REALTOR®, BEd
www.ZoomJer.com

We're safe...For now

2007-09-27T19:33:00.000-07:00

We've been removed from the short list (all of the 4 schools), hooray! See this power point for proof (page 8) http://planning.epsb.ca/datafiles/Board%20Presentation%20Sept%2011.pdf Taken from http://planning.epsb.ca/Ten%20Year%20Facilities%20Plan.html

Wouldn't it be great if we could get on the modernization shortlist?

http://epsb.ca/mediareleases/070912.shtml

Take Action!

2007-08-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

In the coming school year the Board of trustees for the Edmonton Public School Board will be conducting a “sustainability review” for Capilano, Fulton Place, Gold Bar and Hardisty schools. One of the outcomes could be to close or combine one or more of these schools. If the school board doesn't hear from parents and community members, then we'll likely see closures. Don’t let that happen One of their arguments is that it is all about the numbers. How many of you consider your children to be mere numbers?

Here's what you can do now!

Take Action

1. Send this link to as many people as you know in the Capilano, Gold Bar or Fulton neighbourhoods.

2. Contact existing trustees to let them know you support keeping Capilano, Gold Bar, Fulton Place, and Hardisty schools open and in their current form.

• Svend Hansen is our current trustee.

429-8087, Svend.Hansen@epsb.ca

He has supported school closures in the past.

• Update: Svend is no longer a trustee. George Rice is the new Ward G Trustee.
• For a full list of trustees click here.

3. Call the candidates for school board trustee and tell them that you support keeping our community schools open.

• George Rice

945-3074

George has said he supports keeping community schools open. Call him

to tell him you support his view.

4. Vote for the trustee that supports keeping our community schools open.

5. Contact the Minster of Education and tell him funding policies need to change to support keeping community schools open.

• Honourable Ron Liepert

427-5010, calgary.west@assembly.ab.ca

6. Attend the September 11, 2007, School Board Meeting starting at 6:00 p.m. where the sustainability review will be discussed. Board meetings are held in the McCauley Chambers at the Centre for Education, One Kingsway Avenue, Edmonton, just off 109 St. on Kingsawy Avenue.

The Infamous Letter

2007-07-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

On May 22, 2007, the Board of trustees for the Edmonton Public School Board decided to include Capilano, Fulton Place, Gold Bar and Hardisty schools in a “sustainability review.” This board has closed central schools in the past, and that is certainly an option for our schools. We need to make our voices heard, that we support keeping these community schools open and operating in their current forms.

Do not fall into the trap of thinking that one school should stay open over another-we can't let them close any of our schools! Even if you don't have children attending, losing a school is detrimental to a neighbourhood. Families are less likely to settle down, real estate is less in demand and valuable, and so many events and activities that unite community members will be lost. The alternative is sending children on busses rather than having them walk safely down the street to their neighbourhood school. Which plan sounds better?

Here you can download the letter sent to parents from Edgar Schmidt, Superintendent of Schools (429.8000, info@epsb.ca) on 23 May 2007 alerting them that the school "has been included on a list of schools that may be participating in a sustainability review next year."

Get involved early on before it's too late!

2007-06-23T21:06:00.000-07:00

Please show your support for Capilano, Fulton Place, Gold Bar, and Hardisty schools by staying informed as to EPSB school closure events and news. We all need to be involved to keep this great school open!

-Jerry