Halton District School Board (HDSB) held an update meeting at Abbey Park this week to update parents on the 3 scenarios selected by the boundary review committee.
Community members were told that great effort, compromise and understanding were necessary to come up with the best 3 scenarios. The board and boundary review participants explained that scenarios were weighed against specific criteria before coming up with the final choices. Criteria was developed based on community feedback regarding what was important to them.
The panel told the audience there were 3 options, went over what each represented and acknowledged that issues had been raised/considered before selecting the final 3 choices.
So with that in mind, many are now asking why a 4th ‘Other Option’ was noted on the feedback form.
Feedback forms are being collected by the board to ask for input from parents on which scenario they would like to see implemented that will define boundaries and/or programming at the secondary level for Ward 4.
So why is an ‘Other Option’ being added to the form when the board itself spoke and said only 3 options were to be selected and voted on?
Why? Because we are being told during the final boundary review meeting, some representatives wanted the 6th scenario added that would see all Ward 4 French Immersion (FI) students go to the new high school. Is that now what ‘Other Option’ is representing?
Why is this such an issue:
1. The board told the public that the exercise of the boundary committee was to select 3 options and that all representatives would respect and support those choices as the final 3.
2. Scenario 6 taking all FI programming to one location would have serious effects on the south school which now has FI and would push the new school over capacity…thus it was not an option based on criteria and/or for logical reasons could be considered. This is what many fear the new Other Option may be based on.
3. Although the new high school was not to be classified single track FI, many fear it could be seen as a ‘grow it from the ground up’ method of overrunning a secondary school with FI programming. Since this is the same board which until now has not addressed developing what many believe is a sustainable management methods to control FI delivery, to many it seems a logical concern.
4. It could to many once again overcrowd a school and thus potentially take away a community school from mandated English programming and give spots away again in record numbers to optional programming.
5. The last accommodation review that involved elementary schools in the same ward, went through a similar boundary review process with community involvement, saw the Ward 4 trustee replace all motions with a new version that to many has help create a serious imbalance in programming and for many support the ‘grow it from the ground up STFI school’. Residents are saying pleas to correct this have thus far not resulted in real change.
6. Feedback forms were not tied to student numbers as asked by parents during feedback thus there is no method of ensuring the feedback is representing both streams equally.
Many are asking in light of the fact that the last accommodation review, whereby residents participated fairly, had the end result replaced instead with a version favoring French Immersion (both in protection, boundaries, and services), this latest attempt at sneaking in a 4th option could be viewed as a dishonest attempt again to sabotage a fair and agreed to outcome.
By including this 4th option for feedback, many are saying it is a method of trying to mobilize the French Immersion community once again to force an option on the a table that could be included in the final vote.
Transparency and honesty are key right now for a board that has lost such significant confidence by such a vast majority of its community.
This latest attempt at putting a 4th option on a comment form that is being as used as ‘feedback’ and may be used in the final decision is an issue to many.
We encourage residents to fill out a New Oakville High School Feedback Form (at the bottom of the HDSB page). It is extremely important to let the board know which of the 3 scenarios you would pick.
Let us know what you think.
Can the HDSB legally include an addional option on the form? I understand why our trustee (ward 4) may have had her hand in this , but is it legal? There was a Boundary Committee set up to choose the BEST 3 OPTIONS in which they clearly had done. Again, I ask the question , why set up committees , have hours of meetings , just to have everything hijacked by out board members in the last hour?