First, it’s important to understand the problem.
WHY IS VIMY RIDGE PUBLIC SCHOOL SO CROWDED?
Vimy Ridge Public School (VRPS) is the only school located in the quickly growing Findlay Creek community. The Ministry of Education has just approved the building of a Catholic elementary school in the area and the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) has submitted strong business cases to the Ministry of Education to fund our next school in the community (School Boards in Ontario have no means to raise their own capital dollars; we must appeal to the Ministry of Education to award funding) The Ministry typically calls for Boards to submit Capital projects every year or two years; although there is no set timing to their “Capital Calls”. The Ministry awards funding as it sees fit and as their own budget permits.
We are very hopeful that we will receive the necessary funding to build our next OCDSB school with this round of capital submissions. Even if we are awarded funding, the construction of the school takes 18-24 months and something to bridge the gap is required for VRPS.
HOW CAN WE DEAL WITH OVERCROWDING AT A SCHOOL?
When a school has more students than it was built to hold, the first response is to use portable classrooms, but there comes a point in time that the number of portables on a site is just not sustainable. Common areas in the school (gyms, washrooms) are busier than they should be, field space is taken up by portables (a certain number of which are planned for) at a time that, ironically, more yard space is needed to accommodate higher numbers of students. At VRPS in particular, parents feel the impact of the higher number of student when they drop off/pick up their children.
If more portables are no longer the solution at Vimy Ridge PS, then how do we manage enrolment. The answer is you change the grades, you change the programs offered or you change the eligibility to attend the school; usually involving a change in the school boundary. In some cases there is a combination of those solutions that make the most sense.
WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN AN INTERIM SOLUTION
We all know that the answer to the enrolment at VRPS is the building of the next school in the community.
Interim solutions are supposed to be just that. Interim. Something to bridge the gap between now and the building of the next OCDSB elementary school in Findlay Creek. None of the solutions that will be presented is ideal. None is desirable. We try, when considering the action we will take, what makes the most sense and results in the least disruption to achieve the relief required at the school.
We take into account the number of students impacted, but the solution recommended may involve a higher number of students than other options, if the end result is more sustainable.
We look, as much as possible, to keep families together. Additionally. we are mindful of students at critical “break” points not being disrupted (For example, if we decided to move a current Grade 7 student moving to Grade 8 at VRPS to another school, it would result in one school for Grade 7, another school for Grade 8 and yet another school for Grade 9. The three schools in three years conundrum is one we attempt to avoid).
As our hope is to implement a solution that is “interim” we are also mindful of how easily students disrupted can be repatriated back into their community after the need for the solution is no longer necessary (i.e.: we build the new school). We need a solution that “holds” for a reasonable amount of time. Although we’d like to have an interim plan that can be fairly easily “undone”, we also look for one that lasts in the range of 5 years if it has to. The last thing we want to do is disrupt students, families and staff and then have to come back and do it all over again.
ARE THERE OTHER SOLUTIONS THAN THE ONES YOU ARE PRESENTING?
There could be, but we did have an exhaustive look at what those were and how implementable they were. For a number of reasons, we discounted them. It doesn’t mean that there isn’t something else out there; by all means, we are open to innovative suggestions and solutions. We also note that the solutions presented may not be fully formed or may have amendments that can work. We are open to all of these suggestions and variations on the implementation.
POTENTIAL INTERIM SOLUTIONS FOR VIMY RIDGE PUBLIC SCHOOL
It has been determined that there is capacity, with the implementation of more portables to sustain VRPS for the 2022-2023 school year as it is currently configured. One of the solutions proposed may be implemented mid-year, but those who attend the school currently are not disrupted by its implementation.
Below, please find the details of the two interim solutions examined in detail. Please note that the pros and cons of each solution is listed to be thought-provoking. It is not an exhaustive list. Indeed, we are certain that more benefits and issues will be brought to light because of this consultation.
OPTION A - MOVING THE INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS (GRADES 7-8) TO STEVE MACLEAN PS
This option involves moving the Grade 7 and 8 classes out of Vimy Ridge Public School and directing them to Steve MacLean Public School.
We would do this in a phased approach; with the September 2023 Grade 7 class being moved to Steve MacLean PS and following in 2024 with the subsequent Grade 7 class (the first class staying at SMPS and aging into Grade 8)
PROS
- Cohorts stay together
- The solution is broad enough to solve the crowding issue, but can easily be undone when space allows
- SMPS, while itself oversubscribed, has in the past held far more students than this solution would direct to the school
CONS
- Intermediate students could be separated from younger siblings
- This presents another transition point for students
- Busing would be required at a time that busing is a challenge; there would be a consequent change of Bell Times required at SMPS, pushing it it ten minutes later:9am-3:30pm to 9:10-3:40
- Riverside South is not completely directed to SMPS; there is an area of the community currently directed across the river to Farley Mowat PS.That community (Summerhill) has expressed a desire to attend SMPS before any other group.Implementation of this interim solution would push that off.
- Currently, Findlay Creek high school-aged students are directed to Ridgemont High School.If we moved the students to SMPS, they would likely want to be directed to the new Riverside South High School.
- Moving the Intermediate grades does free up the space required, but the “crush” of enrolment comes in newer communities at the lower grades.
OPTION B – ALL STUDENTS OF ALL ELEMENTARY GRADES NEW TO THE COMMUNITY DIRECTED TO ROBERT BATEMAN PS FOR K-6 and ROBERTA BONDAR PS for 7-8
This option would involve picking a date for implementation and those families who move into the VRPS catchment on or after that date would be directed to Robert Bateman PS for Grades k-6 and to Roberta Bondar PS for Grades 7-8. The high school feeding pattern would remain the same: Ridgemont High School.
There are a number of questions that would have to be answered for this option prior to implementation. What date would be chosen where thereafter students would be redirected? What do we do about families who currently live in Findlay Creek but either have no children as yet or have children too young to attend school (the suggestion is that these families be grandfathered). How will this option be “undone” when a new school in Findlay Creek is established? Do the children redirected get “sent back” to Findlay Creek? Do we grandparent the children (and potentially younger siblings) at the school to which they were redirected?
PROS
- Arguably less disruption to students; children moving into Findlay Creek would be changing schools regardless.
- Both Roberta Bondar PS and Robert Bateman PS offer programming needed and have the space to accommodate new students.
- The impact to the receiving school is spread over a number of grades rather than a quick change on implementation.
- The option holds well for a number of years (if it has to)
CONS
- The option is much more complicated to “undo”.Directing children back to Findlay Creek schools would be disruptive to both Robert Bateman PS and, to a lesser degree, Roberta Bondar PS, when students leave.If students are grandparented, the impact is for, potentially 10 years (and more with younger siblings) that would require busing.
- Busing is a requirement at a time that busing is a challenge (common for both solutions)
- There is an impact to Vimy Ridge PS in that most new families moving to the Findlay Creek area do so with younger children, therefore, Vimy Ridge PS may see declines in the younger grades in particular (this is the reason we are considering grandparenting existing families with younger than school aged children to remain directed to Vimy Ridge PS.
- Ongoing complexity in registration as all information will have to be verified each year.
- Not an immediate and predictable alleviation of pressure with this solution compared to Intermediate grades redirected.We do not know how many people are moving into the community in a given year or their children’s grade level.However, relying on past history, and knowing about the number of grandparented families that currently live in Findlay Creek, we can say the VRPS’s enrolment would not be significantly harder to manage than that of September 2022; indeed it would be more manageable.