1 John Wanless Public School – A Unique Community Accommodating Full Day Kindergarten and Future Growth Produced in Partnership with Parents and Staff of John Wanless Public School January 18, 2013 Version 3 Submitted by: Michael Coulson Michelle Dawson Tim Husband Dana Costin Elaine Rapos Jana Ball Fred Koeman Sara Kussner Lana Sheinbaum Sarah Talesnik Sarah Burchell Franziska Cape
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John Wanless Public School – A Unique Community
Accommodating Full Day Kindergarten and Future Growth
Produced in Partnership with Parents and Staff
of John Wanless Public School
January 18, 2013
Version 3
Submitted by: Michael Coulson Michelle Dawson Tim Husband Dana Costin Elaine Rapos Jana Ball
Fred Koeman Sara Kussner
Lana Sheinbaum Sarah Talesnik Sarah Burchell Franziska Cape
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Executive Summary On October 16th, 2012, representatives from the John Wanless parent council attended a meeting held by Howard Goodman and the office of the Trustee to discuss the upcoming implementation of Full Day Kindergarten in Ward 8. On October 29th, 2012, administration, parents, teachers and council members formed a Committee and met with Howard Goodman to discuss further the information shared earlier in October, specifically, to review the challenges facing Ward 8 as the result of impending implementation of Full Day Kindergarten (FDK), by 2014. The FDK Committee discussed, investigated and evaluated many options, and we now provide our perspective back to the Board on what is important to our school community through this document. The most immediate activity was to evaluate the existing space and usage of the school facility, in order to understand and assess whether space is available. On the advice of the Trustee’s office, a thorough space review was conducted. Many options for classroom space were found to be available in the existing facility. Further, while this document includes options that have been proposed by the office of the Trustee and this committee, identifying limitations and strengths, this group is unanimous in their commitment to working with the Board on a list of scenarios which result in low (or no) impact to existing programs, board budget and perhaps most importantly to this community – the students and families of this school. This Committee has identified several options for classrooms, and have found we can accommodate the future number of expected new students coming into the school based on future FDK enrolment and the growth of our community – without making any changes to the school’s existing boundaries, programs, or student population. Having said that, this document outlines considerations e.g. strengths, weaknesses and general considerations/information about various options relating to the Facility, Programs and Board Policy. Major Findings:
1. JWPS has the physical space to accommodate FDK and new student growth within its existing school-‐eligible boundaries
2. There are existing classrooms that can be modified or repurposed to accommodate the # of required new classrooms
3. No JWPS students will require bussing to an alternate school 4. The current JWPS Child Care can remain on-‐site 5. No portables will be needed at JWPS 6. JWPS can continue to provide Kindergarten, and grades 1-‐6 – no need to relocate any level to an
alternate school to accommodate increased enrolment
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Background:
The John Wanless School community is unique in many ways. As a united group of over 600 families strong, we are committed to working in partnership with the TDSB and the Ministry of Education to address space issues. In this regard we have been diligent in our efforts to address the priorities outlined to us by our Trustee. We believe we have a viable solution that respects the goals of the Board and Ministry as well as the wishes of the community. We have spent a great deal of time and effort to come up with feasible options which we believe make a case for John Wanless to be “left as is”.
A dedicated committee of parents, teachers and administrators conducted a comprehensive space review, brainstormed, evaluated school and student impacts, and are all in agreement that John Wanless Public School is able to internally accommodate the projected increase in enrolment beginning in 2014 and continuing forward. We are proud that our plan maintains the childcare centre located inside the school, does not impact the special needs program, and avoids the use of portables. These were all communicated to us as desired outcomes.
Members of the community are strongly opposed to boundary changes, which would require current and future students to attend other schools. And we are also strongly opposed to changing the Grade 7-‐8 (Glenview PS) and Grade 9-‐12 (Lawrence Park Collegiate; our current high school path) schools that we are currently eligible for and planning to send our children.
In order to assist the TDSB by providing a closer understanding of what is important to our community, we provide the following background which describes what makes our very cohesive John Wanless Public School community unique:
Compact Nature of Boundaries
• The compact nature of the boundaries surrounding the school has created close relationships and strong bonds between the parents, children and teachers in the John Wanless community.
• Parents in this community support the school and each other in various ways including fundraising, volunteering their time in order to enrich and support the staff and student programs, and collaborating to help each other with after school childcare.
• If students at John Wanless were forced to attend a different school, relationships and bonds that have been formed between students, parents and teachers over many years would be severed.
• The change could be traumatic to children, especially those who may have difficulty developing relationships, as well as to younger siblings who have begun a school career with an older sibling in attendance at their school, supporting them in various ways. Seeing and interacting with older siblings’ friends regularly at school provides a level of comfort and security. Conversely, older siblings get an opportunity to behave as leaders, set an example for their younger siblings and friends, participating in house leagues together, seeing each other at spirit assemblies, reading together as book buddies. Bonds form between teachers and students, and their families over years. This is a fundamentally important aspect of community.
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A Pedestrian Community
• We are a pedestrian community with the vast majority of children walking to school. • Parents who walk children to school often subsequently walk to the subway to get to work, or to
siblings’ programs in the immediate neighbourhood. • If we are forced to travel further distances, fewer children will be walking to school – they will be
driven by car, or by bus. Increased traffic will result in our immediate neighbourhood, and in fact many families who are concerned about boundaries plan to enrol in the local Catholic Public School (Blessed Sacrament) due to its physical location in the neighbourhood, and convenience to subway.
• Childhood obesity is on the rise and there have been many recent initiatives to encourage more exercise for our children. We rely on the physically active aspect of this pedestrian school community.
Many families own only one car
• Most families can only park one car on their property and our streets are congested as it is with street parking and traffic along our residential streets. Many families would not have the option of driving one child to a farther school location. This is a consideration of families when they move into the John Wanless neighbourhood.
• In many families there are two parents working and caregivers walk the children to and from school. The caregiver’s ability to walk the children to school and other programs is a consideration of families when moving into the John Wanless neighbourhood.
• Driving is not part of the child care plan at home. Families rely on walking and taking public transit.
Close Proximity of John Wanless to Current Boundaries
• Numerous children in the junior grades are able to walk to and from school without parental supervision due to the close proximity to school and the safety created by a cohesive community.
Narrow lots and smaller homes than in neighbouring communities; families are specifically and consciously choosing the John Wanless neighbourhood.
• Residents have sacrificed by choosing to live in narrow lots and smaller homes than exist in neighbouring communities.
• These smaller homes are actually substantially more expensive per square foot than the larger ones just to the west and to the north of our boundaries.
• Residents have made major family impacting and financial decisions in order to keep their children at John Wanless.
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John Wanless as a Closed School
• When the school became “closed” 5 years ago, some families gave up larger homes and suffered financial losses in the market downturn, endured real estate and legal fees as well as bidding wars in order to move into the Wanless district.
• Others temporarily moved their families into rental units while they bought lots in order to have new homes built – all at huge expense and physical/emotional dislocation.
• It would be heartbreaking if those families or any other families who in good faith adhered to the rules were now forced to dislocate their children or suffer further financial hardship because they face now a different set of rules.
House Prices and New Home Purchasing
• A shrinking in the boundaries would affect housing prices and impact the major investment that working families have made purchasing homes in this neighbourhood.
• Many home purchasing decisions are made based on attending our school. • In many cases, families who outgrow their semi-‐detached homes (which are usually closer to the
school) carefully wait to purchase a new home, and sustain bidding wars on new homes, in order to remain in the school district, to avoid at all costs disruption of their children’s relationships, the relationship with the school community and all of the reasons described above.
Access and Busy Intersections
• We all agree the health and safety of our children must be our top priority. • There are very few streets that run north/south on the Northern boundaries of our school towards
Wilson. Wilson is a very busy street which would make walking to school dangerous and almost impossible if students in our Northern boundaries were forced to attend Armour Heights.
• Having to cross a very busy, major 4 lane intersection with express busses (Avenue Road) would also be very dangerous, especially in the winter months, if students in our western boundaries were forced to attend Ledbury. In addition, the visibility for speeding drivers travelling on any of the major streets bordering our neighbourhood, at each crossroad is blocked by large municipal bins or bus shelters making it more difficult to see small children.
• The potential for accidents waiting to happen couldn’t be clearer.
We appreciate having the opportunity to present this summary of what a unique place JWPS truly is; and we are pleased that a way has been found that JWPS can accommodate FDK and future student enrolment. We believe it is innovative, full of integrity and connectedness, and shares the priorities and objectives of the administration as well as the needs of the “family of families” at our school.
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Appendix A
John Wanless FDK Committee Space Options Summary
Objective: To identify areas that can be changed in order to increase the number of classrooms
available for full-‐time use
2 classrooms required for Full Day Kindergarten (FDK) 3 classrooms projected need for 15 – 20 year population growth
I. FACILITY
The following are possible opportunities for repurposing existing space in the school:
1. RECONFIGURE FRENCH AND DRAMA PROGRAMS *** Result: frees up 2 classrooms creating 1 new Kindergarten classroom, 1 grade level classroom
IMPACT: HIGH DISRUPTION: MEDIUM COST: LOW
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS • Build new wall to divide room 003 creating 1 new kindergarten space and 1 multi-‐purpose
teaching space to accommodate drama and other programs. • Create 1 new grade level classroom in Room 211 by reconfiguring French program to
leverage a multi-‐purpose space or ‘a la carte’ delivery.
STRENGTHS • The French program can be supported by Smartboard, materials, dedicated wall space in
classrooms or multi-‐purpose spaces. • Room 003 is one of the largest in the school and has two doors at opposite ends • Use plumbing and space from existing Girls’ washroom to create 2 new washrooms for
kindergarten class
WEAKNESSES • Students benefit from immersion into a dedicated classroom for French with readily
accessible French materials on the walls and throughout the classroom. • Could compromise effectiveness of lessons, teachers would need to adapt to new space or
no home classroom
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2. RECONFIGURE SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS *** Result: frees up 2 classrooms creating 1 new Kindergarten classroom, 1 grade level classroom IMPACT: HIGH DISRUPTION: LOW COST: LOW GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
• Take down both walls between room 221, Seminar Room and caretaker storage and build 1 new wall to create 2 classrooms (1 net new classroom).
• Room 210 to become new grade class and for Special Ed in this space to move to new room created above.
• Alternatively, Special Education space could be consolidated and the seminar room between 221 and 222 could be used as ‘break out’ space
• Use of room 002 only for Primary Special Education to free up room 004, 004 is currently used as a break out space for room 002
• 004 to become new Kindergarten classroom. This room is directly across the hall from room 003 new kindergarten class option, create 2 washroom spaces in current Girls’ washroom for Kindergarten classes to use
STRENGTHS
• Preserves a dedicated special education room • The new designated room is close to the students’ home classroom(s) • Creates 2 net new classroom spaces
WEAKNESSES
• Seminar room is a smaller room • The number of special education students could grow and there may be a need to re-‐
evaluate the space in the future
3. EXPAND SHARED CHILDCARE SPACE *** Result: frees up 1-‐2 classrooms
IMPACT: HIGH DISRUPTION: MEDIUM COST: LOW GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
• Use of 009 & 010 and/or use of 007 to create 2 new classrooms • Look to use space differently to create new space for French/Drama Programs
STRENGTHS • These rooms are not used by the Daycare during the school day • Rooms are ideal for many of the required programs, including a kindergarten room
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• Combining rooms 9/10 would be a favourable change to the Daycare, improving the space • Room 7 has a bathroom adjoining
WEAKNESSES
• Shared use needs to be navigated by the school and Daycare to ensure that both environments’ needs are met and protected
• Daycare has guidelines as to the specific use of wall, physical space that must be followed, Classroom needs could be limited by this requirement
4. IMPROVE MULTIPLE TEACHING SPACE IN LIBRARY *** Create multipurpose room(s) free up 1 classroom
IMPACT: MEDIUM DISRUPTION: MEDIUM COST: HIGH GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
• Remove desktop computers and Computer Program could be delivered ‘a la carte’ with roving laptop lab or computer lab could be relocated to Room 114 currently being used for a Special Education program
• Resource room next to library can then be relocated to computer lab area and built from majority glass with blinds and seen as an extension of the library, not a totally separate room
• Room 108 becomes new prep delivery / multi-‐purpose teaching space • Potential to expand Room 108 into storage area behind to increase size of room.
STRENGTHS
• Separate access to 108 from hallway already exists • 2 entry points to the library already exist • Well located room, with minor modifications to wall to allow additional space • Existing computers can be easily re-‐distributed to Room 114 which is already pre-‐wired • In summer months, computer lab generates extreme heat. Parent Council plans to spend
money on extra Air Conditioning units to address in 2012-‐13 WEAKNESSES
• No windows in Room 108, so not suitable for a regular classroom • Delivering computer program ‘a la carte’ could reduce lesson time and could introduce risk
of damage to equipment, logistics would need to be worked out as to the movement of laptops from room to room as required, ensuring locked cabinet at end of day, etc.
Note: the floor plans and above documented options are in response to the Trustee and TDSB team’s request for a recommendation based on all of the options presented in the original space review provided on Dec-‐7. If alternatives to this plan are desired based on feasibility, cost or other factors, there are additional suitable options such as additional special education and staff room classroom spaces to consider.
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In Summary – options 1-‐4 above would yield the following:
• Existing room 112 currently used as grade classroom becomes Kindergarten classroom • 2 new Kindergarten classrooms in room 003, room 004 • 1 new grade classroom created by moving Special Ed. from room 214 to room 223 • 1 new grade classroom created by moving French to a la carte or shared /multi-‐purpose space • 2 new classrooms gained by sharing daycare spaces rooms 7, 9/10 • Reconfigure library computer lab space and room 108 to create multi-‐purpose space
SUPPORTING ATTACHMENT – FLOOR PLANS Please note we have attached three .pdf floor plans with color-‐coded markings to highlight the newly designated spaces: Basement, 1st Floor and 2nd Floor
5. PORTABLES / BUILDING AN ADDITION IMPACT: MEDIUM DISRUPTION: HIGH COST: HIGH GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
• Not necessary due to lower cost options outlined above of repurposing existing classrooms without compromising programs or quality of life in the school
II. POLICY
1. ADJUST CATCHMENT BOUNDARIES GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
• Given how strongly families feel about the cohesiveness of the JWPS school community, it is fully expected that changing the boundary to a different/smaller catchment area would drive families to alternative schools as opposed to neighbouring TDSB schools. Many families have already formulated plans to pursue enrolment at local Catholic public school(s) (Blessed Sacrament) and/or enrol into private/alternate schools instead.
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WEAKNESSES • Families have purchased homes based on being in the John Wanless PS school district • If children are impacted who attend/whose siblings attend the school, major disruption and
difficult for families to adjust, they are likely to withdraw children from TDSB to pursue alternatives
• Increased traffic in neighbourhood • Increased potential of accidents if students required to cross major intersections
2. OUT OF DISTRICT STUDENTS TRANSFER OUT OF JWPS
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
• Require proof of address from all families at the start of the school year • May help reduce enrolment by having students transfer to their new home school when
they move out of the JWPS catchment area
WEAKNESSES • Disruptive to students • Parents might have students at different schools
3. MOVE DAYCARE AND/OR NURSERY PROGRAM OUT OF JWPS
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
• Many families are on the waiting list, small percentage of students have spaces • Perhaps an alternate location would be able to serve more families • We understand the TDSB is committed to supporting Daycare in the schools • Many in the community view a distinction between the importance of providing
before/lunch/after care to elementary-‐level students who are in the school and providing a nursery program to pre-‐schoolers when space is limited
STRENGTHS • It serves a small percentage of families of JWPS • Moving out the Nursery program would free up additional space for a Kindergarten
classroom
WEAKNESSES • Daycare is very important to the families that use it • Daycare has a lease with the TDSB until 2020
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III. PROGRAM DELIVERY
1. BECOME A GRADE 1-‐6 SCHOOL, OR K-‐3 SCHOOL GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS -‐ It should be noted the committee has not explored this option fully but that in general:
• Divisive to the community • Siblings might be at different schools; difficulty for parents to sort out pick-‐ups and drop-‐
offs, especially when walking (depending on distance, children in grades 4-‐6 may not be old enough to walk on their own).
• Transitional difficulties may arise for children with respect to having to switch schools so many times
2. MOVE INTENSIVE SUPPORT PROGRAMS: PRIMARY & JUNIOR COMMUNICATIONS CLASSES TO A SCHOOL WITH MORE SPACE GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
• Classes currently use small rooms so regular classroom space is not regained • If moved to another school these students could end up in an improved physical space
STRENGTHS
• Impacts small number of students • 16 of the 18 students currently in these two programs at JWPS are bussed in as JWPS is not
their home school • Provides two additional small spaces for any number of purposes as outlined in above
Facility section, space options • Small rooms could be repurposed for other Special Education programs
WEAKNESSES • Loss of staff currently available to other students at JWPS due to model of combined
programs • Programs are not currently occupying regular size classrooms so only regain small room • Adjusting to a new school and new peers may be difficult for some/all of the students • The students would likely experience a greater number of changes in teachers as a result • Perception that this program is not welcome at JWPS
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3. CREATE A BEFORE, LUNCH, AND/OR AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
• There will likely be an increase in demand for this especially for FDK students enrolling in 2014 given the TDSB commitment to providing it if needed/desired
STRENGTHS
• Could increase Daycare footprint in the school, optimize shared space between daycare and school and help protect revenue for daycare
• Would support FDK integration into the school, and greater number of families in the JWPS community
• Could expand and improve the lunch program at JWPS