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10 - The Oakville Beaver, Friday January 25, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com exotic · urban · classic · contemporary Committee advises staff Continued from page 8 * For new Kitchen Quotations only DESIGN MANUFACTURE INSTALLATION cabinetry solutions tailored to specific needs · down to earth prices · high-tech manufacturing with old world craftsmanship and attention to detail AYA KITCHENS OF OAKVILLE 1195 North Service Rd. W., Unit #1 & #2 905.847.1522 · Fax: 905.847.1951 e-mail: oakville@AyAkitchens.com www.AyAkitchens.com French immersion programs with Linbrook offering Junior Kindergarten to Grade 5 while E.J. James offers Grades 6-8. Ockenden noted that naming what schools will be closed goes beyond the committee's job description. "We don't have the financial and facility expertise on the committee. That comes from the board administration team," he said. "We just don't have the expertise to start taking schools apart or moving schools around. What we can supply is what overall school structure we think would work in the community the best and we still need the board administration team to tell us if our structures are doable or not doable." Getting to the point where the committee had only two options to what this overall school structure should be was not something that happened easily, Ockenden said, with a public meeting held last week helping to reduce the number of scenarios. "We had the scenarios set "This was very successful because I think we ended up with about 40 pages of comments, which was what we were looking for." Gerry Ockenden, PARC PE 14 chair up at stations throughout the Oakville Trafalgar High School cafeteria and the community got to go around and digest the scenarios at these different locations," he said. "We had a committee member at each station to try and answer any questions they had. We had comment sheets that people filled out and we set up a communication link at the board website so we could get some input from people that way. This was very successful because I think we ended up with about 40 pages of comments, which was what we were looking for." With all this feedback the committee came up with its two current options, which will again be tested when the committee faces the public on Jan. 29. While the first few public information meetings concerning PARC PE 14 were sparsely attended Ockenden said the most recent meeting had a good turnout of about 40 people. Ockenden is hoping for more people to attend the Jan. 29 meeting and notes that while there has been some resistance to the route the committee is taking, the vast majority of the feedback from the community has been positive. In the end, Ockenden said the committee is working towards one thing. "The main reason the committee came together in the first place was to try and come up with the best educational system we can get for the kids in that community and I think people in the committee have kept that focus in the back of their minds at all times," he said. Other factors the committee kept in mind when making their decisions included maintaining great academics, stability to attract and maintain top staff, minimized splits, student walking distance to school and long term stability. #1 Website oakvillebeaver