Community Consultation on Local School Issues Thursday NOV 4, 7:00-9:30 pm at the Glebe Community Centre, 175 Third Avenue. Limited onsite childcare will be available.
YOUR INVOLMENT AT THIS MEETING IS VITAL!!
Round-table discussions will occur and your participation is needed!
Reason for this Meeting:
Local schools are facing a variety of issues, some of which must be addressed in the short term while others are longer term issues. Of immediate concern is the overcrowding at First Avenue School in the Glebe which offers only the EFI (Early French Immersion) program. Glebe Collegiate and Hopewell Public School in Old Ottawa South face similar overcrowding issues, while Mutchmor and Glashan schools have declining enrolments and available classroom space.
In June, 2010, Board staff agreed to provide input into community led consultations to address accommodation issues in the Glebe and neighbouring areas.
This meeting will examine what the community at large is willing to consider and it is hoped some consensus will emerge over preferred options. NOTE: NO school closures will occur in this area, so that topic will not be discussed at the consultation.
Possible Discussion Topics at the meeting (under development)
(1) Would placing a Middle French Immersion (MFI) program be at Mutchmor, thereby giving the Glebe/Dow’s Lake/Centretown West areas a local MFI option, help alleviate the overcrowding at First Avenue School?
consider: Many parents (75%) in our March 2010 survey indicated a desire to have MFI at Mutchmor and having this option locally may also help alleviate First Avenues overcrowding.
(2) Would placing the “all day learning” program for JK and SK at Mutchmor in Sept 2012 attract students away from First Avenue and help alleviate their overcrowding? Mutchmor is already designated as the “Best Start” school for the Glebe area and has empty classrooms, so would placing this program at Mutchmor also give more children an opportunity succeed at school?
consider: No cross boundary transfers are allowed into the all day learning JK and SK classes until every school in the Board has this program.
(3) Should Mutchmor school be made into dual track EFI and English school?
consider: This option was not supported by the results of the parent survey done in March 2010. Many felt that EFI and English programs are not compatible due to experiences in other schools where there are large social barriers between the 2 groups and an impression that English students are viewed as unsuccessful by their peers and other parents.
(4) Should Mutchmor and First Avenue schools change into one JK-Gr 2 school and a Gr 3-6 school?
consider: Would this scenario would spread the English students too thinly to support viable classroom sizes and isolate English program teachers from having a critical mass of colleagues for support and ideas?
(5) Would the community support sending First Avenue grade 6 graduates to Glashan for grade 7 & 8 French immersion instead of them attending Hopewell Public School?
consider: This would require a boundary change to Hopewells catchment for EFI grades 7 & 8.
Background Information
- Mutchmor and First Avenue schools share the exact same catchment boundaries (except for the gifted program at Mutchmor).
- Mutchmor has the highest enrollment of students in the regular English program in the entire downtown area and is a very successful English language school.
- The OCDSB recognizes that throughout the school board system the English program is "fragile" (due to reduced numbers choosing it) and is looking for ways to increase the viablility of the English language program. Options include congregating English programs together from multiple schools thereby entirely removing English programming from many neighbourhoods.
- Mutchmor’s student capacity is 386 while our current enrolment is ~270 full time equivalent students. First Avenue’s capacity is 390 while their enrolment is ~480 full time equivalent students. Hopewell School’s capacity is 800 while their enrolment is ~910 students. Glebe Collegiate’s enrolment is 1500+ students while their capacity is 1430.
- Currently it is unknown when full day learning (all day kindergarten) will be implemented in the downtown areas. It is expected that it will be very difficult to find enough classroom space for this implementation throughout the downtown. When full day learning is implemented, 26+ children may be in a JK/SK classroom.
- In the last 4 years, First Avenue has taken the following steps to alleviate their overcrowding:
- Told the Glebe Parents Daycare to vacate school rooms they used for daycare
- Turned the staff room into a classroom
- Turned 40% of their library into a classroom
- Converted 2 classrooms into 4 using partitions which do not go all the way to the ceiling due to ventilation issues.
- Enrolled up to 23 children in some primary classes - this is in excess of the 20 child cap.
- Had the Fire Marshall determine that no portables are allowed in their small outdoor yards because they would impede access in case of a fire.
- Over the last 3 years, enrolment has been decreasing at Mutchmor, likely as a result of a number of reasons including:
- School Board direction to EFI schools that students experiencing learning difficulties must receive learning support. Previously no learning support assistance was available to students in French Immersion. Prior to this, 50% of students who began an EFI in SK were no longer in the EFI program by grade 6.
- Fewer students transferring from First Avenue to Mutchmor.
- The elimination of Late French Immersion (grade 7 entry) leaving only Middle French Immersion (grade 4 entry) and Early French Immersion (SK entry) options to students. This may be playing a role in the trend towards more students enrolling in EFI programs.
- Greater restrictions on cross border transfers thereby reducing the number of students able to transfer into Mutchmor.
Mutchmor School Council’s Information
Last year, Mutchmor School Council conducted a brief survey of parents in preparation for these coming accommodation discussions. In that survey, Mutchmor parents told us that they valued Mutchmor as an English centre with regular English with Core French and Early Congregated Gifted programming but did not want to see EFI added to the school. Mutchmor School Council has communicated this information on your behalf. Now further discussion is required and we need your further views to begin to address the overcrowding in area schools.
We welcome the Community Consultation being organized in conjunction with the Ottawa Carleton District School Board, the Glebe Community Association Education Committee and area school Parent Councils and we urge all of our parents to attend! Mutchmor Council will be presenting information at the meeting to discuss what we value, and explain some ideas to address local school issues. Afterwards, round table discussions will take place in which meeting participants will be asked to address certain options and discussion points.