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2 - The Oakville Beaver, Friday February 6, 2009 www.oakvillebeaver.com "The Red Shoe II" Anna Razumovskaya Limited Edition Giclée School board hopes southeast Oakville consultation process will start this month By Tina Depko OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Special Appearance Saturday, February 7, 2 to 4 p.m. Gallery Taste and Tour Food and refreshments Rude Native Oakville 162 Lakeshor e Roa d E a s t, O a k v il l e 905.849.6338 www.bronzefroggallery.com The Halton District School Board approved a proposal Wednesday night for a community consultation process to address the accommodation issues in public schools in southeast Oakville. The affected schools are Brantwood, Linbrook, Chisholm, New Central, E. J. James and Maple Grove. Details of the process were discussed at Wednesday's meeting, as well as in a briefing for the local media on Monday night. The community consultation process is expected to start in mid-February once the alternative accommodation options are ready. Board staff is still working on the various options, according to Wayne Joudrie, director of education. "We've been given an indication that they'll be ready by early February, perhaps even mid-February by the time we finalize them," Joudrie said. "Within the next two weeks, we'll have them. It would be our intent to wait for those options before we go to the public consultation." Joudrie said the alternative accommodation options will be open for revision as the process goes along. He added that the board will also take into consideration other suggestions that are proposed over the next few months. "There will be a number of options for the community's consideration and if there's a hybrid of one of those options or a completely different option that we didn't think of that someone brings forward, we'll look at that as well," he said. "But we are going to start with something that we think would work and work well." Ward 3 Oakville trustee Philippa Ellis said she had faith in the adopted public consultation process. dy-datejust gold Genuine Leather · Sofas · Loveseats · Chairs & Recliners Proudly supporting Canadian Manufacturers 217 Lakeshore Road East Downtown Oakville Since 1953 www.swissinteriors.com 905.844.3530 "I think there is hope," she said. "I know how tiresome all of this has been, but we have to stay focused on the students and I think we are going to create something wonderful." The school board has set a $50,000 budget for the consultation process. Joudrie said he expects it will cost less than that. The school board has already spent an undisclosed amount trying to resolve accommodation issues in southeast Oakville through the recent Program and Accommodation Review Committee, labelled PARC 14. However, the director of education told The Oakville Beaver he is not able to calculate a definitive cost of PARC 14. "I don't have a number on it -- there are so many different ways you could calculate it in terms of the person time, staff time," Joudrie said. "If you actually put a value on all of the time associated with it, it would be well beyond that ($50,000), but many of those costs are embedded in board operation costs." A major aspect of PARC 14 was whether to build a school in Clearview. The board recently approved that project, so the focus will be on the remaining schools, Joudrie said. "In the original PARC, there was a significant amount of debate around Clearview/no-Clearview and with the facilitator (David Cooke) suggesting and the board approving the build of Clearview, that's off the table in terms of the debate and now it can more fully be focused on the accommodation needs of the students below Cornwall (Road)," he said. However, the Clearview community will be part of the community consultation process. "I have identified that all individuals in Ward 3 Oakville who have students in the schools will receive a copy of the survey, so that would include the folks from Clearview," Joudrie said. "We'll find a way embedded in the survey to identify schools and locations." Although trustees debated at length Wednesday night about possible alterations to the process, no changes were made. Joudrie said the process may be modified along the way. The first step of the community consultation process is informing the community of how it will work. This will be achieved by mailing public school parents in Ward 3 a copy of the consultation process, including timelines, input process, proposed alternative accommodation options and background information. A copy of this information will also be posted on the HDSB board website for broader public access. A public meeting will be held to outline the input process, proposed alternatives and background information. The second step is gathering input from the community, scheduled to take place in March and April. This will involve conducting a survey of Ward 3 public school parents and school councils, as well as resident associations, with respect to the proposed alternative accommodation options. The gathering input step will also include a series of focus group sessions, conducted by an independent third-party facilitator. A single, unique e-mail address will also be set up for the board to receive public input, which will be distributed to all trustees and senior administrators. The third, and final step, is the actual decision making, which will occur some time in May or June. The director will assemble a report after reflecting on all of the input received from the community with respect to the proposed alternative accommodation options, including any additional options generated through the public input process. He will then make a recommendation for board consideration. The board will then conduct a delegation evening to give parents, school councils and the broader public an opportunity to share their views on the director's recommendation. Bruce Jones, Oakville trustee and board chair, said he is considering making changes to the format of delegation night following the one held for the Ward 4 Oakville community, which featured 27 delegations and ran five-and-a-half hours. "It is my intent that instead of going to 27, to limit it to 20 this time, so that we are going from 6 to 10 (p.m.)," Jones said. "We'll look at how many delegation requests come in and if it is necessary to have a second night for delegations, we will. We want to give everyone a chance to speak." The director said he may revise his final report based on input received through delegations and correspondence. Trustees will then consider all information, including the original information package, survey results, focus group results, e-mails, written correspondence, delegations and the director's report. Finally, the board will approve a motion dealing with the program and accommodation needs in Ward 3 Oakville. Joudrie said he sees no reason why the issue won't be decided on by June. The decision made will likely be implemented in Sept. 2010, Joudrie said. "2010 is what we're kind of thinking, but again, let's wait and see what the options are and how long it takes for builds and renovations and that kind of thing," he said. "Right now, we're anticipating Clearview for 2010, so that's a good target date."